A/HRC/31/57/Add.1 and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and invites the Government of Iran to keep him informed of the outcome of any further investigation and prosecution. 197. In the Rapporteur’s interim report to the General Assembly of 5 August 2011 (A/66/268), the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment defined solitary confinement, in accordance with the Istanbul Statement on the Use and Effects of Solitary Confinement, as the physical and social isolation of individuals who are confined in their cells for 22 to 24 hours a day. He observed that while solitary confinement for short periods of time may be justified under certain circumstances, with adequate and effective safeguards in place, the use of prolonged (in excess of 15 days under conditions of total isolation) or indefinite solitary confinement may never constitute a legitimate instrument of the State, as it may cause severe mental and physical pain or suffering, a point which has been reiterated in paragraph 28 of the General Assembly resolution 68/156 – Prolonged or indefinite solitary confinement runs afoul of the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. 198. Furthermore, due to the prisoner’s lack of communication, as well as the lack of witnesses inside the prison, solitary confinement may also give rise to other acts of torture or ill-treatment. 199. In the absence of information to the contrary, the Rapporteur concludes that there is substance in the allegations presented in the initial communication, available via the link above, and thus, that the Government of Iran, by subjecting Mr. Hossein Kazemayni Boroujerdi to prolonged solitary confinement, physical abuse and ill-treatment, has thus violated his right to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. 200. The Rapporteur strongly urges the Government of Iran to protect the right of Mr. Hossein Kazemayni Boroujerdi to be free from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. (c) JUA 7/10/2014. Case No. IRN 21/2014 State Reply: 13/02/2015 Allegations concerning the imminent risk of execution of Ms. Reyhaneh Jabbari, after being sentenced to death on charges of murder, after a trial that did not meet fair trial and due process guarantees. 201. The Special Rapporteur thanks the Government of Iran for its reply, dated 13.02.2015, to the present communication. 202. The information provided by the Government is duly noted that Ms. Jabbari had been sentenced to death for the murder of Mr. Morteza Abdol’alli Sarbandi, and was executed on 25 October, 2015, after confirmation of the verdict by the Supreme Court of Iran and failure to obtain consent from the victim’s family to waive the execution. 203. As observed by the Special Rapporteur in his 2012-report to the General Assembly (A/67/279), there is evidence of an evolving standard within international bodies and a robust State practice to frame the debate about the legality of the death penalty within the context of the fundamental concepts of human dignity and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. This evolving standard, along with the resulting illegality of the death penalty under such prohibition, is developing into a norm of customary law, if it has not already done so (para. 74). 204. The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to reconsider whether the use of the death penalty per se respects the inherent dignity of the human person, causes severe mental and physical pain or suffering and constitutes a violation of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (para. 79). 37