What it means
استنطاق (estentâq) means interrogation or formal questioning. It is borrowed directly from Arabic, where it is the Form X masdar (verbal noun) of the root ن-ط-ق (n-t-q), the root of نطق (nutq, speech or utterance). The Form X pattern استفعال (estef-âl) in Arabic typically means to seek or to elicit something, so استنطاق literally means to elicit speech, to make someone speak. In Persian legal usage, it refers specifically to the formal questioning of a suspect, defendant, or witness by a judge, prosecutor, or police investigator. It sits at C1 level because it belongs strictly to legal and official registers. The more everyday word for questioning or asking is بازجویی (bâzjuyi), which is a Persian compound and is used more broadly in journalism and informal speech.
How to use it
- متهم برای استنطاق احضار شد. (Motaham barâye estentâq ehzâr shod.) “The defendant was summoned for interrogation.”
- جلسه استنطاق سه ساعت طول کشید. (Jalase-ye estentâq se sâ-at tul keshid.) “The interrogation session lasted three hours.”
- قاضی استنطاق رو شروع کرد. (Qâzi estentâq ro shoru kard.) “The judge began the interrogation.”
- حق داری در استنطاق وکیل داشته باشی. (Haqq dâri dar estentâq vakil dâshte bâshi.) “You have the right to have a lawyer present during interrogation.”
Cultural note
In the Iranian legal system, استنطاق is a formal procedural stage conducted by a بازپرس (bâzpors, investigating magistrate) before a case moves to trial. The بازپرس has authority both to question and to order detention, which gives this phase of the process considerable power. Human rights organizations have documented concerns about conditions and practices during استنطاق in Iran, and the right to legal representation at this stage has been a recurring point of contention in reform debates.