Torture Worldwide (Human Rights Watch, 27-4-2005)

Torture Worldwide (Human Rights Watch, 27-4-2005): "IRAN
Torture and ill-treatment in detention, including indefinite solitary confinement, are routinely used to punish dissidents in Iran. Torture is often carried out in illegal and secret prisons and interrogation centers run by intelligence services, and has been used particularly against those imprisoned for peaceful expression of their political views.

The use of prolonged solitary confinement, often in small basement cells, has been designed to break the will of those detained in order to coerce confessions and provide information regarding associates. Combined with denial of access to counsel and videotaped confessions, prolonged solitary confinement creates an environment in which prisoners have nowhere to turn in order to seek redress for their treatment in detention. Severe physical torture is also used, especially against student activists and others who do not enjoy the high public profile of older dissident intellectuals and writers. "