TEHRAN, 29 April 2004 — Iran’s hard-line judiciary yesterday ordered a ban on the use of torture which human rights groups say the Islamic Republic’s security organizations routinely use to extract confessions.
Iran’s constitution specifically outlaws the use of torture of detainees. But several attempts by the reformist-dominated Parliament to pass a bill banning torture have been blocked by a constitutional watchdog run by hard-liners.
“Any torture to extract confession is banned and the confessions extracted through torture are not legitimate and legal,” judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi said in a 15-point directive to judiciary, police and intelligence officials obtained by Reuters.
Rights lawyers and political activists said the statement was a tacit admission that torture is still prevalent.
“If we want to see a real change in the judicial system it won’t be by emphasizing what’s already in the constitution,” said student leader Abdollah Momeni.
Momeni, who said he was placed in solitary confinement for more than six weeks and forced to confess to acting against state security last year, said change would only come about if “the officials are fully committed to implementing the law.”
London-based Amnesty International welcomed the news but questioned its logic.
“Amnesty International certainly welcomes the reported statement that Iran will now seek to adhere to its own laws regarding torture. They have to start implementing their own laws which already ban torture,” a spokeswoman said. “But it remains to be seen if the judicial officials or the security officials in the Revolutionary Guard will ... put this into practice,” she added.
Shahroudi instructed officials that “blindfolding, restraining, pestering and insulting of detainees must be avoided during arrest, interrogation and investigation”. He emphasized that detainees cannot be deprived of their right to a lawyer, unnecessary detentions must be avoided and confessions must be written and verified by the accused.
There was no clear reason for the announcement’s timing. Iran’s rights record is routinely criticized by Western governments. But last week Tehran escaped a censure motion by the UN’s Human Rights Commission for a second year running.
