Iran's reformist parliament approved a bill banning...

Iran's reformist parliament approved a bill banning the torture of prisoners on after an earlier version was rejected by a hardline constitutional watchdog, parliamentarians said.Iran's constitution prohibits the torture of detainees, but families of political dissidents have claimed psychological and physical abuse are often used. The new bill aims to tighten torture laws and defines what actions are unacceptable."The approval of this bill stops any abuse of the constitution which bans any form of torture for extracting confessions," Naser Qavami, a member of parliament's judiciary commission, told Reuters by telephone."Even a person who is sentenced to death has rights and his or her rights should not be violated," he added.Under the new bill - which will be sent for vetting to the conservative-controlled Guardian Council - any form of physical or psychological pressure during the investigation and trial will be deemed as torture and be prohibited.The bill specifically outlaws isolation, blind-folding, humiliation, deprivation of food, water or hygienic facilities, night-time interrogations, and the use of drugs on prisoners.The Guardian Council, a 12-member panel of hardline clerics and judges which vets legislation to make sure it does not clash with the constitution or Islamic Sharia law, rejected an earlier torture bill in June and asked for clarification of some points.But Qavami said he expected the legislative watchdog to give the bill the green light this time, noting that legislators had conferred with Guardian Council members during the drafting of the revised version.