A/HRC/43/61
emblematic of denials or delays in providing medical attention associated with attempts to
extract confessions or inflict punishment. Attempts to obtain a confession as a condition for
medical treatment violates the provisions of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
Iran,90 the Nelson Mandela Rules and the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international law. The Government
rejects the allegations and states that all three individuals have or had access to medical
care, as guaranteed by articles 102 and 103 of the Executive Regulations of the Iranian
Organization of State Prisons (Prison Regulations).91
50.
The Special Rapporteur has received disturbing information that several prisoners
have been denied medical treatment for injuries sustained during interrogations conducted
by intelligence or security officers. Reports have been received of torture, including
beating, kicking, punching, slapping and suspension by the arms and legs. One former
detainee of the Zahedan intelligence detention centre informed the Special Rapporteur that
he had been tortured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and showed him a “medical
bed” where prisoners were tied, tortured and subjected to a mock execution by hanging.
4.
Broadcast of forced confessions
51.
The Special Rapporteur is concerned about the practice of publicizing forced
confessions. The Iranian authorities have a track record of broadcasting forced confessions
and statements of repentance by political prisoners on State-run television channels and
other media outlets. The confessions shown on State-funded media outlets are often made
under torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or under duress. Televised
confessions violate the provisions of article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, to which the Islamic Republic of Iran is a party, and provisions from which
no derogations or reservations are permissible. This practice also violates article 9 and the
fair trial provisions set out in article 14 of the Covenant, as well as articles 37, 38 and 39 of
the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and article 91 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure.
52.
The violations of the aforementioned provisions are particularly distressing in cases
where detainees are charged with offences carrying serious punishments, including the
death penalty. Ahmadreza Djalali, a Swedish-Iranian academic, had his confession to
spying on the Islamic Republic of Iran broadcast on State television in December 2017, five
days after the Supreme Court had upheld his death sentence through a hastily convened and
secret process during which no submissions from the defence had been allowed. 92 It is
reported Mr. Djalali recorded the confession under duress, after his interrogators had said
that he would be released from solitary confinement only if he recorded the confession. In
other instances, televised confessions are used to deprive detained persons of their due
process rights; without access to legal advice, individuals in such cases make selfincriminating statements publicly, thereby pronouncing their “guilt” in the absence of a
trial.
53.
In 2019, the women detained for participating in the White Wednesday campaign
and appearing online without headscarves were tortured and ill-treated in an attempt to get
them to confess their “guilt” and renounce the campaign in videos to be broadcast on State
89
90
91
92
14
www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/amnesty-international-welcomes-release-of-dr-homa-hoodfarfrom-prison-in-iran/.
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, art. 39.
http://prisons.ir/%D9%82%D9%88%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%88%D8%A2%DB%8C%DB%8C%D9%86-%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87%D9%87%D8%A7/%D8%A2%DB%8C%DB%8C%D9%86%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%87-%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%87%D8%A7.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42387308 and
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/12/iran-upholding-academics-death-sentence-in-secret-showsutter-contempt-for-right-to-life/.
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents