use and petty drug dealing, theft, adultery, “flouting” of public morals, illegitimate
relationships, and mixing of the sexes in public.7
Although in 2002 then-Head of the Judiciary Ayatollah Shahroudi issued a ban on stoning,8 it
remains as a punishment for act of adultery by a woman and a man who meet the condition of
ehsan9 under the Islamic Penal Code (2013).10 In 2007, the Iranian judiciary confirmed that a
man who had been convicted of adultery 10 years earlier was stoned to death in Qazvin
province.11 The practice reportedly further continued despite the issuance of the ban.12 13 In
2013 the spokesman for the Iranian Parliament’s Justice Commission confirmed that while the
Penal Code no longer prescribes stoning, it remains a valid punishment under Shari’a law,
which is enforceable under the Penal Code.14
Iranian authorities have regularly resorted to corporal punishments, in particular flogging. Over
100 flogging sentences and 19 sentences of amputation were issued over the course of 2017.15
16 17 18
In 2020 the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center documented 160 flogging sentences. 19
Iranian authorities do not systematically or thoroughly release information on corporal
punishment sentences or their implementation. Reports of flogging cases rarely appear in the
Iranian media, usually from small towns and villages.20
The Human Rights Committee has explicitly stated that flogging, amputation and stoning are
not compatible with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).21 The
text of article 7 of the ICCPR allows for no limitation. Violation of jus cogens norms, such as
7
For a list of acts punishable by flogging in Iranian law, see: Abdorrahman Boroumand Center
https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3643
8
European Parliament Report, 2003, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+REPORT+A52003-0334+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN
9
The condition of ehsan is described under Article 226 of the 2013 Islamic Penal Code, English translation, Iran Human
Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
10
Article 225, Islamic Penal Code (2013), English translation, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center,
https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
11
Radio Farda report: < https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f1_stoning_Iran/401521.html >
12
Iran Human Rights, https://iranhr.net/en/articles/603/
13
Radio Farda report: < https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f7_Stoninig_3_men_in_Iran/479480.html >
14
Mohamadali Esfanani, in an interview with Fars News Agency that Radio Zamaneh reported it:
<https://www.radiozamaneh.com/53576 >
15
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 12 March 2018,
https://undocs.org/A/HRC/37/68
16
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3126 ; See also Abdorrahman Boroumand
Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3270
17
See Amnesty International urgent action: https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3587
18
See Arya News Service, translated by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center,
https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3190
19
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/projects/flogging
20
Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, Abdorrahman Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center
(IHRDC), Impact Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42
313&Lang=en
21
UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), CCPR/C/79/Add.85,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR/C/79/Add.85&Lang=en
2