This is a picture of a flower.
Mohammad Moghimi

Imprisonment is one of the penalties that has been considered by legislators for punishing criminals or detaining suspects. Regarding the purpose of punishment, legal and criminology scholars have spoken extensively, and the discussion on this matter is not contained in this brief nor is it the purpose of the writer. However, among the theories that have been raised regarding the purpose of punishment, the theory of rehabilitating the offender and returning them to society is the closest to the principles of human rights. Therefore, it is always necessary to keep this goal in mind in the creation and implementation of criminal laws. On the other hand, although punishment should serve as a form of punishment (awareness) or deterrence for the offender, the point that should not be forgotten is respect for human dignity. Therefore, two fundamental conditions that must be considered in punishing criminals are the legality of crimes and punishments, and respect for human dignity.

Regarding the harms of imprisonment and alternative punishments, much has been said. However, despite this, imprisonment is still being implemented. In some crimes, there is no substitute found or alternative punishments are not applied. In any case, in the execution of imprisonment, principles must be observed so that prison does not become a place for torment and torture of criminals and suspects, or for corrupting prisoners from each other and forming criminal gangs. As mentioned, the purpose of punishment should be to reform the criminal, not to inflict suffering and torture upon them. In fact, the criminal is imprisoned due to the dangerous state they are in and the potential harm they may cause to society. However, the punishment of imprisonment, apart from depriving the criminal of their freedom, should not impose additional suffering upon them.

One of the principles of overseeing the implementation of imprisonment is the principle of crime separation. According to human rights principles, in prisons, the principle of crime separation must be implemented based on differences such as the type of crime, gender, age, being a criminal or suspect, health, etc. For example, a convict who is imprisoned for a minor theft should not be held in the same place as convicts for crimes such as murder or drug trafficking, and according to Article 6, Section A of the Political Crimes Law, political criminals must serve their sentence in a separate location. Furthermore, the regulations for the separation and classification of prisons, approved by the head of the judiciary in 2006, emphasize the separation of crimes based on the aforementioned differences. Additionally, according to Article 10, Section 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (adopted by the United Nations General Assembly) which was also approved by the Iranian Parliament on May 7, 1975, suspects

Not adhering to the principle of separating crimes has unfortunate consequences. As seen last year, one of the political prisoners went on a hunger strike in protest of this principle being ignored, and unfortunately lost their life. More recently, another political prisoner was murdered by dangerous criminals in one of our prisons. It is expected that these tragic events will lead to the proper implementation of the principle of separating crimes according to the laws and regulations in our prisons.