will also be charged accordingly. 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 for such acts are provided under Article 587 of the Islamic Penal Code. 5 The Iranian Criminal Code of Procedure (2015) lists the disciplinary punishments that may be imposed on detainees and prisoners but excludes solitary confinement, which remains prescribed under Article 175 of the Prison Regulations. 6 Under Iran’s Prison Regulations, any disciplinary measures may be imposed after investigation by a disciplinary council composed of judicial and prison officials, although the Regulations do not specify the offences that may be subject to punishments. If the disciplinary council finds the accused prisoner guilty by majority vote, it may impose “detention in solitary confinement for a maximum of 20 days.”7 The lack of regulations for holding detainees in solitary confinement outside of the circumstances foreseen under the Prison Regulations put detainees at risk of arbitrary solitary confinement, and for prolonged periods of time. Article 175 of Iran’s Prison Regulations stipulates that solitary confinement should not exceed 20 days,8 while the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (or Nelson Mandela Rules) consider solitary confinement longer than 15 days as prolonged solitary confinement. 9 The Human Rights Committee has stipulated that the prolonged solitary confinement of detainees may amount to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.10 While Iranian law prohibits - conditionally - torture and certain abusive conduct during interrogations, it does not provide a definition of torture per se. Torture and other ill-treatment inflicted on an individual for other purposes than extracting confessions and/or information is not, therefore, explicitly prohibited. Without the existence of a prescribed crime of torture under Iranian law, perpetrators cannot be prosecuted. While provisions of the Islamic Penal Code could be used for the prosecution of torture, they are restrictive in their definition and scope of application. The Penal Code limits prosecution to acts of physical assault, therefore excluding other forms of torture and ill-treatment, including acts harming the psychological integrity of the accused. 5 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/ 6 Article 524, Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Iranian Prisons Regulations, as referred to in https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF 7 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF 8 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF 9 Rule 44, Nelson Mandela’s Rules or UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Nelson_Mandela_Rules-E-ebook.pdf 10 General comment No. 20 (1992) on the prohibition of torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, para. 6. 2

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