Article 38 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran only prohibits torture and other illtreatment when it is “used to extract an admission of guilt or to obtain information”.39 Similarly, Article 578 of the Islamic Penal Code asserts “any civil servant or judicial or non-judicial agent who corporally mistreats and abuses an accused person in order to force him to confess shall be sentenced […]”.40 Such provision is reiterated under Article 60 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Article 169 of the Prison Regulations prohibits “corporal punishment of the accused or convicts, and imposing violent, excruciating or humiliating punishments, in all penal institutions and prisons” and punishments are provided under Article 587 of the Islamic Penal Code. 41 While Iranian law prohibits - conditionally - torture and certain abusive conducts during interrogations, it does not provide a definition of torture per se. Torture and other ill-treatment inflicted on an individual for purposes other than extracting confessions and/or information is not explicitly prohibited. The prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment is a jus cogens norm under international law and cannot be restricted in any circumstances,42 including by conflicting domestic laws. While Iranian laws provide for the accountability of officials and authorities who infringed upon individuals’ rights and punishes the use of torture in order to force confession, these provisions do not criminalize torture nor do they use the term “torture”. The absence of a crime of torture under Iranian law prevents prosecution, which is limited only to cases of torture provided under the law. Despite the limited legal framework, there are mechanisms competent to receive and investigate complaints of torture and ill-treatment as provided under the law in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supervision and Inspection Board, established under the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizen’s Rights, monitors the compliance of policies and conduct with the law. The Board’s missions include submitting “the complaints it receives to the relevant bodies and pursuing the investigation until it yields an outcome”; “deploying inspection groups to the bodies”; and “preparing reports on the implementation of laws in the country every three months and making them available to the public every three months.”43 The Supervision and Inspection Board also set up a database enabling victims and witnesses to submit their complaints. On the occasion of its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that “the prosecutors, through judges stationed in prisons as well as the Secretariat of the 39 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran English translation http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch03.php 40 Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-book-five/ 41 Islamic Penal Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/islamic-penal-code-of-the-islamic-republic-of-iran-book-five/ 42 CCPR General Comment No. 20: Article 7, 10 March 1992, https://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fb0.html 43 Executive By-law of Article 1(15) of the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizens’ Rights. 5