adequate meals to prisoners.70 The Government has been increasing the annual budget of the Organization.71 Reportedly, the budget of the Organization is spent on the provision of food and clothing for prisoners, as well as health care services.72 However, despite the lack of readily official and available information, NGO reports suggest that investments to improve the conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty are insufficient. Reportedly, prisons in Iran lack showers and adequate sleep amenities for their detainees.73 As reported by Amnesty International as of June 2020,74 according to recent official statements,75 Iran’s prison population was around 211,000, two and half times more than the officially declared capacity of 85,000.76 Numerous reports received by OHCHR have indicated that detainees are regularly kept in poor conditions in Iranian prisons, notably due to overcrowding, denial of access to healthcare, and serious deficiencies in basic hygiene, adequate food and water. OHCHR and NGOs received numerous reports of abusive use of torture to extract confessions, 77 use of solitary confinement,78 and withholding medical treatments until the individual confesses.79 Additionally, numerous reports have documented deaths and cases of illtreatment of persons detained during the November 2019 protests.80 81 Although Iran’s Prisons regulations guarantee prisoners’ access to medical treatment facilities when needed, in practice prison and judicial officials have regularly denied this right.82 A report published by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center in partnership with the Human Rights Activists News Agency found that conditions of detentions have further deteriorated since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Prisons’ overcrowding facilitated the proliferation of COVID19 cases in several prisons.83 Such concerns have been echoed by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran in his report published in July 2020.84 70 Aftab News, https://aftabnews.ir/fa/news/499098/ ILNA News, https://www.ilna.news/fa/tiny/news-707499 72 Mehr News, www.mehrnews.com/xQMTN 73 See more: Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/rights-disregarded-prisons-in-the-islamic-republicof-iran/#3.2.3 74 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/07/iran-leaked-letters-reveal-state-denial-of-covid19crisis-in-prisons/ 75 IRNA, https://bit.ly/3bxZsgN 76 Tasnim News, https://bit.ly/3exWyKT 77 HRW <https://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/iran0604/5.htm>; Nobel Womens Initiative < https://nobelwomensinitiative.org/white-torture-an-open-letter-from-narges-mohammadi/> 78 HRW <https://www.hrw.org/legacy/campaigns/torture/iran/ > 79 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 80 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 81 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/2891/2020/en/ 82 UN < https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/07/1042141>; HRW <https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/iran> 83 HRANA, https://www.en-hrana.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/COVID19_FEAR_IN_IRANS_PRISONS_.pdf 84 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, July 2020, https://undocs.org/A/75/213 71 8