Is it an activity qualified as torture only when it is carried out for certain purposes? At the heart of the debate lies the question of whether or not corporal punishment is a form of torture. Aspects of corporal punishment remain acceptable according certain religious traditions. An example of this is found in traditional Islamic law, which has banned both torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, when used for the express purpose of obtaining confessions or information. In other circumstances, however, severe corporal punishment is acceptable in Islamic law. As a result, some Islamic states whose domestic law is rooted in traditional Islamic law, justify their use of torture by invoking Islamic traditions: they claim that corporal punishment is derived from God's will. These states tend to consider its use as lawful sanctions, and it is made legal under their domestic law. In this paper, Iran is studied as one such state.

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