Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
A. The State party should abolish revolutionary tribunals, as well as religious
courts.
Ad-hoc revolutionary tribunals and special religious courts, established in the aftermath of the
revolution, are still in place today in the Islamic Republic of Iran.2 The Law on Formation of
General and Revolutionary Courts was adopted in 1994,3 subsequently amended in 2002.4
The Code of Criminal Procedure for General and Revolutionary Courts was enacted in 1999.5
Despite its trial period stipulated for three years, it remained in place until the entry into force
of the new Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) in 2015.6 Revolutionary courts are among
Iran’s criminal courts listed under Article 294 of the new CCP (2015) and, according to
Article 297, are to be established in the capital of each of the state’s provinces.7
Revolutionary courts have jurisdiction over crimes against national and external security,
moharebeh (“enmity against God”), efsad-e fel-arz (“corruption on earth”), baghi (“armed
rebellion against the state”),8 “gathering and colluding against the Islamic Republic”, armed
activities, arson and “destruction and plunder of resources with the purpose of opposing the
system”, “insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic and the Supreme Leader”, all
smuggling of restricted items and drug-related offences and other offences whose
investigation fall under the revolutionary court’s jurisdiction.9 In 2018, the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that the
pattern of reported violations related to due process and fair trial in the country often occurred
within the context of revolutionary courts,10 which reportedly issue the most death
sentences.11 Similarly, NGO reports seem to suggest that trials before revolutionary courts
disproportionately target civil rights activists and members of religious minorities such as the
1
CCPR.9.2.S.1; CCPR.9.3.S.1
CCPR.9.2.P.1
CCPR.9.1.O.1; CCPR.9.2.O.4
2
NGO joint submission to the Human Rights Committee from the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, Iran Human Rights
Documentation Center, Impact Iran, Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42313_E.pdf
3
The Law on Formation of General and Revolutionary Courts, 13 July 1994, available at rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/90416
4
Amendments to the Law on Formation of General and Revolutionary Courts, 3 November 2002, available at
rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/93837
5
The Code of Criminal Procedure for General and Revolutionary Courts, 19 September 1999, available at
rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/93219
6
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF
7
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/amendments-to-the-islamic-republic-of-irans-code-ofcriminal-procedure-part-1/
8
Defined under Articles 279 to 285 and Articles 286 to 288 of the Islamic Penal Code (2013), Iran Human Rights
Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/english-translation-of-books-i-ii-of-the-new-islamic-penal-code/
9
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF
10
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, March 2018,
https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/37/68
11
See Iran Human Rights https://iranhr.net/en/articles/2839/
2