Alirza Quluncu, Voice of America, February 3, 2014
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| Musa Barzin |
According to Musa Berzin Khalifali, a South Azerbaijani lawyer living in Turkey, although torture is prohibited under Iranian law, there are no mechanisms in place to prevent the torture of prisoners. “In practice, courts issue verdicts based on confessions obtained through torture.”
Berzin, who previously worked as a lawyer in Tabriz, discussed Iran’s constitution and penal laws regarding torture in an interview with Voice of America. He also examined the state of torture in Iranian prisons, the use of confessions extracted through torture, and how Iranian courts handle such confessions. Additionally, he evaluated the situation in peripheral regions, including Azerbaijani cities.
Referring to the provisions on torture in Iran’s constitution and judicial laws, the lawyer pointed out that the issue has not been comprehensively addressed in these laws, nor do they provide effective mechanisms for enforcement.
“Iranian laws state that confessions obtained through torture are not legally valid, but in practice, courts often base their rulings on such confessions,” the legal expert emphasized.
According to Khalifali, prisoners who have been subjected to torture in Iran have the right to file complaints against their torturers. However, these complaints are usually ignored.
Human rights organizations report that peripheral regions of Iran, as well as non-Persian communities and minorities, face a higher risk of torture. Confirming this, Musa Berzin Khalifali noted that one reason for this is the lower frequency of news coverage by human rights activists in these regions.
He explained that national activists, who are detained under the supervision of security agencies, are often denied access to lawyers during lengthy interrogation periods and are held in Ettelaat (Intelligence Ministry) prisons without contact with their families. This increases the likelihood of them being subjected to torture, and there are no laws in place to protect them from such treatment.
Link to the original interview in Turkish on the Azerbaijani section of Voice of America:
Musa Bərzin: İran qanunları məhbusları işgəncədən qorumur