Iranian Civil and Political Activists Protest Against Solitary Confinement Punishment
On Monday, the 11th of Esfand, a group of political and civil activists gathered at the Judicial Services Office in Tehran to file a complaint regarding the imposition of solitary confinement on detainees and prisoners. These political activists consider the enforcement of solitary confinement on prisoners and detainees a clear example of violation of international laws and an evident sign of torture of prisoners.
Pressuring prisoners through prolonged detention in solitary confinement has long been common practice in Iran’s Islamic Republic’s judicial system. These punitive measures are routinely used during the interrogation phase of detainees and aim to impose psychological pressure on them to obtain information and force false confessions from arrestees and prisoners.
In a joint petition by civil activists and former political prisoners, it is stated that “according to domestic and international regulations, keeping accused persons in solitary confinement violates legal regulations and the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is a clear example of torture and crimes referred to in Articles 570 and 579 of the Islamic Penal Code. Therefore, it demands the prosecution of all those who ordered, implemented, and authorized the order for detention in solitary confinement.”
According to these civil activists, “despite civil and human rights protests to stop keeping accused persons in solitary confinement, this practice continues, while keeping accused persons in solitary cells is not provided for in any legal regulations.”
Among those present in front of the Judicial Services Office were figures such as Narges Mohammadi, Faranguiss Mazloum, Zia Nabavi, Hamid Asfi, Ahmad Reza Haeri, Kourosh Zaeim, Ashkan Razavi, Siavash Hatam, Majid Musafer, Milad Fadaei, Zhila Bani Yaqoub, Bahman Ahmadi Amoui, Majid Musafer, Farshad Qorban Pour, Rasoul Badaghi, Marzieh Rasouli, Mohammad Karimi, Ibrahim Allahbakhshi, Arash Keikhosravi, Akbar Amini Armaki, Zahra Tohidi, Alireza Khoshbakht, and Faezeh Hashemi. Additionally, several others including Jafar Panahi, Khosro Sief, Mohammad Ali Amoui, Mahmoud Bahrami, and Saeed Madani filed their complaints through their lawyers at other offices.
No Law in Iran Authorizes Solitary Confinement Punishment
In Iran’s current laws, there is no law or regulation authorizing the imposition of solitary confinement punishment on prisoners; Article 524 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code does not recognize solitary confinement as a punishment for convicts. In Article 524 of Iran’s Criminal Procedure Code (revised in 2015), it states: “In case a prisoner commits a disciplinary violation, one of the following punishments shall be determined by the Disciplinary Committee with consideration of proportionality and after confirmation by the Judge of Sentence Execution: A – Transfer from vocational training centers and employment to closed or semi-open prison, B – Deprivation of visits for a maximum of three occasions, C – Deprivation of leave for a maximum of three months, D – Deprivation of pardon and conditional release recommendation for a maximum of six months.
On the other hand, there is no legal authorization in Iran for imposing solitary confinement punishment; the Administrative Justice Court of the country in December 2003 declared item 4 of Article 169 of the Executive Regulations of Iran’s Prison Organization regarding “the imposition of solitary confinement punishment for up to one month as a disciplinary punishment for a prisoner” as contrary to law and nullified it.
The Administrative Justice Court’s decision declaring solitary confinement punishment unconstitutional was based on Article 36 of Iran’s Constitution, which states that “punishment and its implementation must only be through a competent court and according to law.”
Article 39 of Iran’s Constitution also states that “degradation and humiliation of anyone who has been arrested, detained, imprisoned, or exiled according to law, in any form, is forbidden and subject to punishment.”
According to Article 579 of the Islamic Penal Code, “if any government official punishes a convict more severely than the sentence imposed or inflicts a punishment that was not ordered, they shall be sentenced to imprisonment from six months to three years.”
In the judgment of Iran’s Supreme Administrative Court regarding the nullification of item 4 of Article 169 of the Prison Organization’s Executive Regulations, it states: “Considering that the legislature has not prescribed solitary confinement punishment and its implementation, which deprives the prisoner of sitting and conversing with other prisoners and results in psychological suffering and unwarranted consequences, is a clear example of severity in the manner and quality of executing imprisonment punishment, item 4 of Article 169 of the Prison Organization’s Executive Regulations regarding the imposition of solitary confinement punishment for up to one month as a disciplinary punishment for a prisoner is found to be contrary to law and beyond the authority stipulated in Article 9 of the law transforming the Prison Supervisory Council and Security and Educational Measures to the Prison Organization and Security and Educational Measures Organization passed in 1985, and is hereby nullified pursuant to the second part of Article 25 of the Administrative Justice Court Law.”
According to an Iranian lawyer, “any judicial order for transferring a prisoner to solitary confinement is arbitrary and illegal.”
Moreover, the imposition of solitary confinement punishment is a clear violation of items 1, 6, 7, and 9 of the law on “respect for legitimate freedoms and protection of citizens’ rights,” a law passed in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in 2004. Solitary confinement punishment is also an instance of torture of convicts referred to in Articles 570 and 579 of the Islamic Penal Code.
On the other hand, Article 9 of Iran’s Civil Code considers international treaties signed by Iran as valid as domestic laws. Based on this and given that Iran is a signatory to the “International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” the Islamic Republic is obligated to comply with this international covenant; the seventh principle of this international treaty states that “no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.”
Earlier, in 2009, Hashemi Shahroudi, the former Head of the Judiciary, stated in an interview that solitary confinement punishment is contrary to the laws of Iran’s Islamic Republic.
Solitary Confinement; a Tool of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence for Interrogation and Forcing Detainees’ Confession
In recent years, the practice of imposing solitary confinement punishment by Iran’s Islamic Republic’s security institutions has become very common; the Intelligence Organization of the Revolutionary Guard as an independent security institution separate from the government and close to the Leader of Iran’s Islamic Republic on one hand, and the Ministry of Intelligence of Hassan Rouhani’s government on the other.
These two security institutions have exclusive oversight of designated sections in prisons. Physical and psychological pressure and the imposition of solitary confinement on prisoners in sections controlled by security institutions are exercised without any supervision, and these security institutions are never accountable for their illegal conduct.
The judicial authorities of Iran’s Islamic Republic in most cases where individuals (usually civil activists and human rights defenders) face accusations related to national security act under the command of security institutions and in a sense call themselves “security judges.” Judges who in some cases have unlimited authority and in others cause a detained person to be imprisoned in solitary confinement for more than a year. These judges are actually only accountable to their superiors in the security apparatus and rarely adhere to the country’s enacted laws and regulations.
Solitary confinement punishment is in most cases imposed during the interrogation and investigation phase. Documents and the long history of judicial officials show that torture of detainees and forcing them to make false confessions during solitary confinement has occurred. Forced confessions that are usually broadcast on Iran’s official media such as television, thereby both degrading the dignity and honor of prisoners and using these confessions as documents and evidence to convict the detainees.
In some cases, despite the objections of prisoners’ lawyers, judicial authorities have transferred prisoners from general wards to solitary cells for further interrogations.
Solitary confinement punishment is usually limited to political opponents, ideological prisoners, and civil activists. In recent years, however, this punishment has been used against individuals detained in connection with financial cases. Furthermore, for years the imposition of solitary confinement punishment has been used in police centers against individuals involved in violent crimes such as murder or armed robbery.
According to many legal experts in Iran, lack of public awareness and sensitivity to such actions facilitates the widespread use of solitary confinement as a punishment for arrestees.
According to legal experts in Iran, concurrent with the recent complaint filed by civil activists about solitary confinement in the judiciary, submitting this complaint to the Committee for the Implementation of Article 90 of the Islamic Consultative Assembly and pursuing it in the executive bodies of the legislative and judicial branches, as well as pursuing it by the President of the country as responsible for implementing the Constitution, could help in making this joint complaint by social and civil activists in Iran effective and successful.
In 2017, Narges Mohammadi, a human rights activist who was imprisoned at that time, in an open letter to the Committee for the Implementation of Article 90 of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, requested the formation of a committee to investigate the legal and security dimensions of the “solitary confinement” phenomenon in Iranian prisons and demanded an end to the practice of imposing solitary confinement punishment on prisoners. In part of Narges Mohammadi’s letter, it states: “Keeping accused persons in solitary confinement based on the laws and regulations of the Islamic Republic system of Iran (according to the verdict of the Administrative Justice Court’s general assembly) is an illegal matter and a clear violation of the principles stipulated in the Constitution and an infringement on the rights and dignity of prisoners.”
Source: Iran Human Rights Campaign
