Iranian Parliament’s Justice Commission confirmed that while the Penal Code no longer prescribes
stoning, it remains a valid punishment under Shari’a, which is enforceable under the Penal Code.12
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 2017.13 14
15 16
In 2020 the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center documented 160 flogging sentences. 17
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 as
they are usually from small towns and villages.18
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).19 The text of
article 7 of the ICCPR allows for no limitation. Violation of jus cogens norms, such as the
prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment, cannot be justified on the basis of inconsistent domestic
laws.20
Despite the existence of several means and mechanisms that should accept complaints regarding
all violations against citizens' rights, such as the Article 90 Commission of the parliament (The
mission of this commission - which was established based on Article 90 of the Constitution- in the
parliament is to receive the citizens' complaints against all government institutions and to send the
case to the judiciary for judicial procedure), or Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship
Rights in the country's provincial courts,21 there is not enough evidence to suggest that these
complaints are independently investigated and adjudicated.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has not legally prohibited cruel corporal punishments.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented.
12
Mohamadali Esfanani, in an interview with Fars News Agency that Radio Zamaneh reported it:
<https://www.radiozamaneh.com/53576 >
13
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
14
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3126 ; See also Abdorrahman Boroumand
Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3270
15
See Amnesty International urgent action: https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3587
16
See Arya News Service, translated by the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3190
17
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/projects/flogging
18
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%2f42313
&Lang=en
19
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
20
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 27 September 2018,
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N18/300/93/PDF/N1830093.pdf?OpenElement
21
The Law on "Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Civil Rights, adopted on May 5, 2003 <
https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/94150 >
2