Furthermore, Iran’s legal framework provides for limited guarantees of due process, notably with regards to access to legal counsel. The guarantee of the right to legal defence is enshrined in Article 35 of the Constitution, which also ensures the right to choose a lawyer.11 Similarly, Article 190 of the revised Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) protects the right of a suspect to “be accompanied by a lawyer during the preliminary investigations.” Article 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), revised in 2015, permits the accused to “demand the presence of a lawyer from the start of detention.”12 13 However, a Note to Article 48 of the 2015 CCP,14 specifies that individuals facing charges for certain offences, including those relating to national security and organized crime, must select their legal counsel from among a limited list of lawyers approved and announced by the Head of the Judiciary at the phase of preliminary investigations.15 The right to legal assistance during the pre-trial phase is also not guaranteed under Iranian law as the CCP does not ensure access to free legal assistance during the investigation phase in cases where the accused faces charges other than those punishable by severe punishments, such as the death penalty or life imprisonment. In May 2019, the Iranian legal and judicial parliamentary commission proposed an amendment to Article 48 of the Code of Criminal Procedure which would allow the prosecution to delay access to a lawyer for 20 days, with a possibility of extension to the whole duration of investigation, in cases related to national security, terrorism of financial corruption.16 17 Such amendment would further restrict access to legal counsel during the investigation phase. Yet, the Human Rights Committee has explicitly stipulated that the accused should be granted prompt access to legal counsel,18 including during the pre-trial phase.19 In many reported cases, especially national security cases, defendants have reported seeing their lawyer for the first time on their day of trial. 20 Members of the Sunni21, Arab Ahwazi22, 11 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran < http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch03.php > Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) as referenced in the 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 > 13 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) original version < http://dotic.ir/print/5584 > 14 Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) as referenced in the 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 > 15 The former CCP had conditioned the presence of a lawyer at the investigative stage on the permission of the judge in cases with a “confidential” aspect, cases where the presence of a party other than defendant would “corrupt” proceedings as determined by the judge, and in national security cases; See the March 17, 2017 report of the UN Special Rapporteur, Asma Jahangir, on fair trial in Iran <https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/34/65 > 16 Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/newsletter/issue/99 17 www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/0379/2019/en/ ; https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/05/iran-proposed-lawrestricting-access-to-lawyer-would-be-crushing-blow-for-justice/ 18 CCPR General Comment No.32 <https://undocs.org/CCPR/C/GC/32> 19 HRC, Concluding observations on Georgia, CCPR/C/79/Add.75, para. 27, available at bit.ly/20caB7i; HRC, Concluding observations on the Netherlands, CCPR/C/NLD/CO/4, para. 11, available at www.refworld.org/docid/4aa7aa642.html 20 HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases 21 HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/court-prevents-lawyer-accessing-files-five-sunni-prisoners> 22 UNPO <https://unpo.org/article/21430> 12 3