access to a lawyer in the investigative stage of the judicial process. In the hundreds of cases of individuals arrested for political reasons or suspected for ordinary crimes that the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center has investigated, all detainees were interrogated without the presence of an attorney.15 Reported cases show a pattern of incarcerated prisoners being subjected to limited or restricted access to legal representation through all stages of the trial process.1617 Such pattern includes cases where children were denied access to legal counsel, notably during the investigation phase, and in some of these cases were sentenced to the death penalty.1819 The Article 90 Commission of the Parliament is in charge of investigating complaints from citizens made against the operations of the Parliament itself, the executive and the judiciary.20 There is no publicly available information on data relating to the number of complaints received and investigated vis-à-vis cases of violations of the rights to fair trial and due process of children in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Additionally, there is little information as to whether children have unhindered access to such complaint mechanism. Under Iranian law, only children over the age of 15, who are legally deemed mature, may bring a case to Iranian courts unassisted.21 However, children under the age of 15 must bring cases through their legal guardians, typically a father who must consent prior to the initiation of legal proceedings, except in cases where the father is the person against whom a complaint is made, or he is unavailable to provide his consent.22 23 In June 2020, the Iranian Guardian Council passed legislation that, among provisions aimed at protecting children, requires social workers from the State Welfare Organization (SWO) to promptly investigate children in situations of “extreme danger” from abuse, exploitation, or situations resulting in children not being enrolled or present in school.2425 The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran also established “Special Investigation Branches and Criminal Courts in the Judiciary for the examination of child abuses crimes” and launched an SMS hotline (30003636) for child abuse reports.26 There is no readily available information as to the number of complaints/reports received by these mechanisms or if complaints/reports are promptly investigated and adequately adjudicated. 15 Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, 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 16 HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney> 17 HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases 18 OHCHR News, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=23689&LangID=E 19 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/04/iran-two-17yearold-boys-flogged-and-secretlyexecuted-in-abhorrent-violation-of-international-law/ 20 Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/internal-regulation-on-the-commission-of-article-90-of-theconstitution/ 21 Civil Code, art. 1210 22 Civil Code, art. 1210 23 For example see art. 1172 of the Civil law. 24 Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/23/iran-child-protection-law-positive-insufficient 25 Parliament of the Islamic Republic of Iran, https://rc.majlis.ir/fa/legal_draft/state/1055680 26 National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 3