regulations include the right for detainees to have a bed24 and also stipulate that prisons should have enough showers to enable detainees to shower at least once a week.25 Iran’s Prison Regulations mandates the relevant authorities in charge of the supervision and inspection of detention centers. In its 2019 National Report to the Universal Periodic Review, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran reported that the Citizenship Rights Watch Board carries periodic inspections within prisons and detention centers. According to the Government the body has “received and handled 3,275 complaints and reports, through the complaint system, in relation with civil rights violations. Between 2015 and 2018, a number of 28,504 inspections were carried out to prosecutors' offices, prisons and detention centers.”26 There is no readily available information about the outcome of such inspections and whether they led to the improvements of detention conditions. However, institutions in charge of inspections and investigations reportedly lack independence from judicial authorities, which may well result in biased inspections into cases of complaints of, notably, torture and ill-treatment against detainees in prison facilities.27 Regular reports of ill-treatment of detainees in Iranian prisons suggest that inspections and investigations do not lead to accountability for perpetrators and/or the improvement of prison’s conditions for detainees. 28 29 30 The Iranian Prisons Organization, the governmental agency in charge of overseeing prisons in the country, has reportedly faced challenges in terms of funding and investments. In 2017, thenHead of the Organization stated in an interview that there were not enough funds to provide three adequate meals to prisoners.31 The Government has been increasing the annual budget of the Organization.32 Reportedly, the budget of the Organization is spent notably on the provision of food and clothing for prisoners, as well as health care services.33 However, despite the lack of readily official and available information, NGO reports suggest that investments to improve the conditions of detention of persons deprived of their liberty are insufficient. 24 Article 71, Regulatory Code of 11 Dec. 2005 (Governing the Prisons Organization and Security and Corrective Measures), available at http://www.prisons.ir/index.php?Module=SMMPageMaster&SMMOp=View&PageId=27. 25 Article 108, Regulatory Code of 11 Dec. 2005 (Governing the Prisons Organization and Security and Corrective Measures), available at http://www.prisons.ir/index.php?Module=SMMPageMaster&SMMOp=View&PageId=27 26 National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 27 HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/prisoners-zahedan-prison-threatened-not-talk-inspectors ; UN https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/07/1042141 ; HRW https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/iran 28 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 29 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 30 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/2891/2020/en/ 31 Aftab News, https://aftabnews.ir/fa/news/499098/ 32 ILNA News, https://www.ilna.news/fa/tiny/news-707499 33 Mehr News, www.mehrnews.com/xQMTN 5