Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/HRC/43/61 para 70(n)
Full recommendation:
The Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government, the judiciary and the parliament, as
appropriate: Ensure that deaths in custody and allegations of violations of due process and of
ill-treatment are promptly, independently, impartially and effectively investigated by an
independent competent authority with a view to holding perpetrators accountable and in
compliance with the right to a fair trial.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
Article 38 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran prohibits torture and other illtreatment, but only when it is “used to extract an admission of guilt or to obtain information”.2
Article 39 of the Constitution bans “all affront to the dignity and repute of persons arrested,
detained, imprisoned”. Article 570 of the Islamic Penal Code (2013) criminalizes violations of
individuals’ freedoms and rights enshrined in the Constitution committed by officials and
authorities. 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 […]”.3 The Article adds that if the detainee “dies as a result of
the abuses, the principal to the murder shall be sentenced to the punishment provided for a
murdered, and the person who has issued the order shall be sentenced to the punishment
provided for a person who has ordered a murder”. A similar 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. 4 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 other purposes than extracting confessions
and/or information is not, therefore, explicitly prohibited.
1
CCPR.7.1.S.1; CCPR.10.1.S.1
CCPR.7.1.P.1; CCPR.10.3.P.2 ; CCPR.10.3.P.3
CCPR.7.1.O.1;
2
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran English translation
http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch03.php
3
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/
4
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/
1