the independence and neutrality of the Judiciary.7 As a consequence, the right to legal assistance
of one’s choosing in such cases is particularly limited.
Defendants in national security cases are often denied 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.8 Reports have shown a pattern
of reported cases where prisoners remain incarcerated without proper access to legal
representation at all stages of their trial process. 9 10
B. Ensure that national laws support the independence of lawyers and release all
lawyers that appear to have been imprisoned for protected activities in
defence of their clients
In law, the Iranian Bar Association is independent since 1997, when a board of directors was
appointed through The Law on Conditions for Obtaining the Attorney’s License, yet in practice,
the Judiciary is in charge of vetting the candidates for appointment to this organ and lawyers
have no immunity.11 According to reports that have been published in recent years, a number of
lawyers and judges are scrutinized by security intelligence institutions.12 According to reports
that have been recorded and published in recent years, a number of lawyers, mainly those that
acted in defense of human rights activists like Hoda Amid, Payam Derafshan and Farokh
Forouzan have been persecuted and arrested by Iranian intelligence institutions.13 Cases where
lawyers have acted in defense of human rights activists and members of minorities are the most
common instances where the Iranian authorities have actively engaged in repressing them
through detention and incarceration. 14
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented.15
7
“Iranian Lawyers Criticize Proposal to Deprive Defendants of Right to Choose Counsel,” Human Rights Activists in Iran, June
6, 2018 (https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3443)
8
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
9
HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney
10
HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases
11
https://iranhrdc.org/iranian-bar-associations-struggle-for-independence/#4
12
HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/annual-report-of-prosecuted-lawyers-in-iran
13
CSHR http://en.cshr.org.uk/2018/09/04/free-tribune-lawyers-condemns-detention-human-rights-lawyers/
14
Radio Farda https://en.radiofarda.com/a/iranian-lawyer-arrested-for-claiming-executed-sufi-man-s-innocence/29308266.html
and Amnesty https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/09/iran-arrests-of-lawyers-and-womens-rights-activists-signalintensifying-crackdown-on-civil-society/
15
For more please see: https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2015/02/womenreport-womens-education/ and
https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/05/25/its-mens-club/discrimination-against-women-irans-job-market
2