IRAN: Torture and other forms of ill-treatment can never be justified under any circumstances
Geneva, 09 July 2009. The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is gravely concerned for the safety of the thousands of individuals reportedly held in detention in the Islamic Republic of Iran in the aftermath of the disputed 12 June presidential elections and the violent clashes between the protestors and Iranian security forces. OMCT recalls that torture and other forms of ill-treatment can never be justified under any circumstances and that its absolute prohibition is enshrined in all the relevant international human rights treaties to which Iran is a State Party.
OMCT has received convergent information that thousands of individuals, including prominent human rights defenders, politicians and journalists, who have been arrested in the midst of the disputed 12 June presidential elections, are detained, many of them incommunicado. This is a situation that raises serious concerns for their physical and physiological integrity. OMCT is all the more concerned since the practice of torture and other forms of ill-treatment is common in Iranian prisons, including to obtain confessions. In addition, the conditions of detention often amount to cruel and inhuman treatment.
OMCT exhorts the Iranian authorities to effectively ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all persons deprived of their liberty in accordance with international law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Furthermore, OMCT calls on the competent authorities to order the immediate release of all individuals detained since the 12 June election in the absence of valid legal charges consistent with international legal standards, or if such charges exist, bring the individuals concerned before an impartial, independent, and competent tribunal that will guarantee their full procedural rights at every stage of the proceedings, including a fair and public hearing in the determination of any criminal charge against them.
In accordance with national and international legal standards, the competent authorities must also carry out prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigations into alleged or suspected human rights violations, including the excessive use of force by security forces during the protests leading in certain cases to death, for purposes of prosecuting and trying the suspected perpetrators and apply adequate penal and administrative sanctions.
Finally, OMCT remains also deeply concerned for the safety of Iranian human rights defenders, who currently face additional harassment and arbitrary arrests because of their activities, and urges the authorities to guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of all Iranian human rights defenders and to stop any kind of harassment against them, in conformity with the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as international human rights instruments ratified by Iran.
Contact:
Alexandra Kossin: Tel. +41 22 809 49 39