A/HRC/22/56 27. Of the 169 interviews conducted for the present report, 81 cases of reported detention were examined for allegations of torture. It was found that approximately 76 per cent of interviewees reported allegations of torture; 56 per cent reported physical torture, including rape and sexual abuse; and 71 per cent reported psychological torture. In an effort to investigate further the methods of torture reported by interviewees, the Special Rapporteur examined a study on the Islamic Republic of Iran by one of the world’s largest torture treatment centres, Freedom from Torture, which investigates and forensically documents evidence of torture in accordance with the standards of the Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Istanbul Protocol).25 Data collected was both quantitative and qualitative, detailing the history of detention, specific torture disclosures and the forensic documentation of the physical and psychological consequences of torture. 26 The medical/legal evidence presented in the study appears to be consistent with a substantial number of statements submitted to the Special Rapporteur in which allegations of torture were reported. 28. The above-mentioned study examined 50 of some 5,000 documented cases of torture reported by Iranians to the Freedom from Torture centre since 1985. Twenty-nine of the individuals whose cases were examined for the study were detained in 2009, 14 in 2010 and seven in 2011. Fifty-six per cent of the cases were detained only once in the period 20092011, while 44 per cent were detained more than once and up to three times before leaving the Islamic Republic of Iran. 29. The study concluded that methods of physical torture described in the 50 cases included blunt force trauma (see table 1),27 including beating, whipping and assault (100 per cent of cases), finding that: the main forms of blunt force trauma consisted of repeated and sustained assault by kicking, punching, slapping and of beatings with a variety of blunt instruments including truncheons, cables, whips, batons, plastic pipes, metal bars, gun butts, belts and handcuffs. People reported being assaulted or beaten on all parts of the body, though most commonly on the head and face, arms and legs and back. Most were blindfolded while beaten and many were restrained, meaning they were unable to defend or protect themselves. 25 26 27 See “We will make you regret everything”: Torture in Iran since the 2009 election, Freedom from Torture Country Reporting Programme, March 2013. Available from http://www.freedomfromtorture.org/sites/default/files/documents/iran%20report_A4%20%20FINAL%20web.pdf. Ibid. Unless indicated otherwise, the information contained in the tables featured in the present report was provided by Freedom from Torture. 9