Head of Judiciary Says Handcuffs and Shackles Should Only Be Used in ‘Dangerous Cases’

The head of Iran’s judiciary issued directives today during a joint meeting of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the Supreme Judicial Council of provinces held via videoconference, regarding the manner of detaining suspects, searching their homes, and the use of shackles and handcuffs.

Part of today’s remarks by Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje-ee, head of Iran’s judiciary, focused on how suspects are detained, homes and workplaces are searched, and how handcuffs and shackles are used.

He stated that in cases where detention is unnecessary, people should be released and suspects should be freed after charges are read to them pending trial.

This comes as Ali Yousefi and Amir-Hossein Moradi, two elite students from Sharif University of Technology, have been in temporary detention since April 2020 without any court sentence issued against them.

Narges Mohammadi, spokesperson for the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, has also been held in solitary confinement by security agencies for roughly 40 days, and her family has received no information about her.

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje-ee further emphasized that security personnel should only use handcuffs or shackles on suspects in specific and dangerous cases.

He made these remarks as numerous reports in recent years have documented rough or sometimes humiliating conduct by security and law enforcement officers toward individuals.

This includes cases involving dissidents, writers, and civil activists, some of whom have even had their hands and feet chained to hospital beds. One recent example was the publication of images of imprisoned writer Baktash Abtin chained to a hospital bed.

In another part of his remarks, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje-ee called on officials to consider measures when searching homes or workplaces of suspects to ensure that suspects and their families are not harmed or distressed.

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje-ee, head of Iran’s judiciary, stated: “Really examine whether home searches and workplace searches are necessary everywhere or not. If they are not necessary, and the nature of the charge is not such that they must absolutely go to their home, so neighbors understand, they understand, so his wife and children become distressed, then the search should not be conducted.”

Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje-ee also emphasized the necessity of full compliance with the law during the detention of individuals.

Remarks that in many cases lack enforcement guarantees.

This includes accounts from civil activists and critics of the Islamic Republic. Individuals such as Manouchehr Bakhtiari, father of Pooya Bakhtiari who died in November 2019 protests, who was violently arrested at his brother’s home before the concerned eyes of family members, or Leila Hosseinzadeh, a student about whom reports of beating during interrogation were published just 10 days ago.

Today’s remarks by Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Eje-ee contain nothing new; all of these matters are stipulated in the Constitution and Iran’s international commitments, but according to human rights organizations, violators of these provisions have always been immune from legal prosecution and punishment.

The United Nations and human rights defenders have repeatedly accused Iran’s judiciary of violating the rights of suspects, torture, and mistreatment of detainees and prisoners.

Source: Voice of America