all smuggling of restricted items and drug-related offences and other offences whose
investigation fall under the revolutionary court’s jurisdiction.46
In 2018, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
repeatedly noted patterns of violations of due process and fair trial, often occurring within the
context of revolutionary courts,47 where reportedly most of the death sentences are issued.48
Previous mandates of the Special Rapporteur raised concerns about the lack of independence of
revolutionary courts and the influence of Iranian security forces over them, leading these courts
to be viewed as “an extension of the coercive executive branch of the Government that operates
to control all criticism or independent actions for securing rights”.4950 Similarly, NGO reports
suggest that trials before revolutionary courts disproportionately target civil rights activists and
members of religious minorities such as the Baha’is,51 and often do not respect the human rights
safeguards provided under the right to a fair trial.52535455
Despite the existence of several mechanisms that ostensibly accept complaints regarding violations
of citizens' rights, such as the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission (established under Article 90
of the Constitution, offering a mechanism to citizens to file complaint against any of the three
branches of power) and the Oversight Bodies for the exercise of Citizenship Rights in the country's
provincial courts, there is no evidence to suggest that complaints to these bodies are independently
reviewed and investigated.56 Additionally, as Iranian authorities rely on the State’s legal
framework to restrict the work of HRDs, access to justice is particularly limited.
The Government did not take all necessary measures to guarantee that all human rights defenders
are subject to fair proceedings before an independent and impartial tribunal.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented.
46
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF
https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/37/68
48
See https://iranhr.net/en/articles/2839/
49
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, August 2017,
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N17/256/24/PDF/N1725624.pdf?OpenElement
50
Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, March 2014,
https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G14/120/75/PDF/G1412075.pdf?OpenElement
51
EN-HRANA, https://www.en-hrana.org/?s=revolutionary+court
52
Omid memorial case of Ahmad Nasiri, Abdorrahman Boroumand Center (https://www.iranrights.org/memorial/story/8023/ahmad-nasiri)
53
Letter of Zahedan Prison inmates, May 13, 2019, Abdorrahman Boroumand Center
(https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3577)
54
EN-HRANA, https://www.en-hrana.org/case-ahmadinejads-former-vp-sent-revolutionarycourt?hilite=%27revolutionary%27%2C%27court%27
55
See more: Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/newsletter/issue/61
56
Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, Abdorrahman Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC),
Impact Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42313
&Lang=en
47
5