inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment and article 14, paragraph 3 (g) prohibiting compulsion to testify against oneself or confess guilt.”62 The Iranian legal framework does not adequately protect individuals from torture and other-illtreatment and may well facilitate impunity. While Iranian laws provide for the accountability of officials and authorities who infringed 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.”63 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 Protection of Citizenship Rights and provincial supervisory boards, conduct regular inspections and investigate any reports or complaints” with regard to allegations of torture.64 There is no readily available information that might indicate that complaints have been properly investigated and adjudicated either by the Board or the Secretariat. Reports of cases of torture in the Islamic Republic of Iran are regular.65 66 Amnesty International reported widespread and systematic use of torture by Iranian authorities against protestors during and after the November 2019 protests.67 As of November 2020, there is no readily available information that might indicate that Iranian authorities have opened investigations compliant with international standards into allegations of torture committed by police, security and intelligence agents and prison officials in the context of the November 2019 protests. 62 UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), General comment no. 32, Article 14, Right to equality before courts and tribunals and to fair trial, 23 August 2007, CCPR/C/GC/32, available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/478b2b2f2.html 63 Executive By-law of Article 1(15) of the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizens’ Rights. 64 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, February 2020, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/43/12/Add.1 65 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, March 2018, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/37/68 66 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G20/021/53/PDF/G2002153.pdf?OpenElement 67 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1328912020ENGLISH.PDF 7