The prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment is a jus cogens norm under international law
and cannot be restricted in any circumstances,5 including by conflicting domestic laws.
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 in itself under Iranian law prevents prosecution,
which is limited only to cases of torture provided under the law.
There are mechanisms to receive and investigate complaints of torture and ill-treatment 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 conducts with the law and confront those in breach. 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.”6 The Supervision and Inspection Board also has 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.7
There is no readily available information that might indicate that complaints have been properly
investigated and adjudicated either by the Board or the Secretariat. Additionally, there is no
readily available information on cases where torture may have led to the death of the detainee
and whether investigations are effectively carried. Despite a Special Procedures communication
on the matter, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as of November 2020, remained
silent on the alleged custodial death of the labor activist Mr. Shakrokh Zamani. 8
5
CCPR General Comment No. 20: Article 7, 10 March 1992, https://www.refworld.org/docid/453883fb0.html
6
See Executive By-law of Article 1(15) of the Law on Respect for Legitimate Freedoms and Safeguarding Citizens’ Rights,
available at bit.ly/1nRuftq (accessed on 3 February 2016).
7
Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, February 2020, https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/43/12/Add.1
8
Case no: IRN 17/2015 State reply: none to date Alleged custodial death of a political prisoner in Iran, Mr. Shahrokh Zamani
https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=19158
2