Repentance is a religious term in various religions, including Islam, which aims to “socially rehabilitate” the criminal and prevent society from “corrupting” the individual. This religious directive is based on the reconstruction of the “sinful” personality through expressing hidden remorse and regret, but in ideological systems, it is often used not for the purpose of “concealment”, but to achieve political goals and specific desires. This means that in religious dictatorships, opponents and critics are forced to confess against themselves under severe psychological pressure and brutal torture, and refer to it as “repentance” in order to cover up their inhumane behavior towards critics. In the Islamic Republic, the misuse of the word “repentance” dates back to the 1990s. The use of this word in legal discussions in specific times is reminiscent of the policy of “repentance”; although it is superficially used in legal agreements in the punishment of criminals.

Prisoners’ rights in international conventions.

At the international level, prisoners are always at risk of human rights violations, which is why special measures must be taken to ensure their fundamental and basic rights. Respecting the human dignity of prisoners is a principle that all governments should strive for and make it the basis of all their policies, especially for governments based on divine religions – taking into account religious teachings. Attention to the rights of prisoners is one of the concerns of decision-makers at the international level; the United Nations Charter, as well as the preamble and text of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, particularly Article 10, emphasize the rights of prisoners. In this regard, the Declaration of Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners was adopted at the United Nations General Assembly in December 1990. This declaration, which is considered a special international human rights document, although not legally binding, has a special moral and political value and many of its principles have been included in legally binding international documents, and governments are obligated to comply with its

Prisoners’ rights in the Islamic Republic.

In the laws of the Islamic Republic and in various principles, including the second principle and the third chapter (the rights of the nation), the equality of the rights of the nation and equal protection against laws are emphasized, as well as the necessity of respecting human dignity. However, in practice, we have witnessed the disregard for these rights for different sectors of society, especially prisoners, and especially political prisoners.

On July 3, 2024, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary, issued a nine-article guideline for repentance. This resolution, in addition to fundamental flaws in psychological and sociological matters, also has significant shortcomings in religious aspects. Furthermore, from a legal perspective, it has multiple and fundamental flaws. Paying attention to these flaws can shed light on some of the apparent and hidden goals of the authors of this resolution. The reality is that this guideline promotes double discrimination and disregard for the beliefs and dignity of prisoners and provides a platform for the interrogation of beliefs and systematic promotion of white torture in prisons.

In Article 5 of the Guidelines for Repentance, eight cases have been mentioned as criteria for repentance, which can be referred to as clauses “A, P, and T”.

A – Commitment to fulfilling religious duties.

P- Expressing remorse and written commitment to not committing a crime.

“Effective cooperation is committed to discovering crimes or introducing partners or accomplices in crime.”

In the Islamic Republic, whenever religious obligations are mentioned, what comes to mind and what is expected in practice is the commitment to Islam and the Shia religion. The first question that arises is: what is the duty of a prisoner who believes in the Christian religion? Will the authority responsible for enforcing religious obligations be a judge and prosecutor with Shia beliefs who does not believe in other religions in practice? The important point here is that even in the courts of the Islamic Republic, we rarely come across judges who have Sunni religious beliefs. The simple question raised above reveals clear discrimination between prisoners with non-religious or religious beliefs – except for the Shia religion. On the other hand, it is possible that a prisoner may be forced to conceal their beliefs in order to benefit from this policy.

Furthermore, expressing remorse and signing a written commitment will not only not help in reducing, mitigating, or dropping the sentence, but it may also be used as a tool to exert further pressure on the prisoner, given the history of the judicial and security system of the Islamic Republic. Heavy sentences issued by judicial authorities may be justified in complete coordination with security authorities. It is even possible for the text of this commitment (repentance document) to be used to maintain and continue pressure on the prisoner and to be used as a lever to reinstate previous sentences – in case of disobedience to orders from security and judicial institutions. Attention to Article 8 of the Repentance Verification Procedure makes this fact clear.

In article eight of this manual, it is stated:

“If, after implementing the regulations regarding repentance, it is proven that a person has pretended to repent, the fall of the intended punishments and discounts will be cancelled and they will be sentenced to either the maximum or the minimum disciplinary punishment, depending on the case.”

This means that not only will punishment be imposed on a repentant person, but the maximum legal punishment will also be applied. The notable point is that there is no regulation for the implementation of this article; the authority will use its discretion and at any time, if it deems it in the best interest, it will declare the appearance of repentance and subject the person to a more severe punishment.

After the protests of September 1401 and the announcement of amnesty by the leader of the Islamic Republic, the tools of repentance and remorse were used to suppress the protesters. Eyewitness reports indicate that some of the convicts who had written a commitment letter (repentance letter) were used by security and judicial institutions as a confession and used it as evidence of their guilt. On the other hand, although it is stated in the protocol that repentance is considered for all crimes – both ordinary and political – the most common use and abuse of the title of repentance is in “political crimes” which are dealt with under the title of “security crimes”.

The performance of the Islamic Republic, from its establishment until today, has clearly shown that this system has disregarded many of the stated legal and human rights principles and rules. It is evident that the repentance policy – with all its legal and human rights violations – will be used as another tool for oppression, torture, and humiliation of prisoners in the near future. However, if the government has set the implementation of leniency or reduction of punishment as the purpose of this policy, it should amend the legal and human rights provisions of the policy and respect the fundamental rights of prisoners. It should also make necessary guarantees to prevent abuse of power and remove the ugly face of using religion as a means of abuse.