Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/HRC/37/68 para 84
Full recommendation:
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran should also ensure that all those sentenced to
death can exercise their right to equal access to justice through adequate legal representation,
which is an essential component of due process at any stage in criminal proceedings, including
the appeal and review process. Adequate and qualified legal representation at the review stage
through effective legal aid programmes should be ensured.
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
Article 35 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran guarantees the right to legal
defence, which also ensures the right to choose a lawyer. In the event that a party to a lawsuit is
unable to secure legal counselling, according to Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution a lawyer
will be provided.2 Additionally, 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”. Similarly, Article 48 of the CCP permits the accused to “demand the presence of
a lawyer from the beginning of his/her detention.”3 4
However, the right to access a lawyer of one’s choose is limited by a note to Article 48 of the
2015 CCP5 for individuals facing charges for certain offences, such as those related to national
security and organised crime. In such cases, the individual must select their legal counsel during
the preliminary investigative phase, from a limited list of lawyers approved and announced by
the Head of the Judiciary.6 In 2018, the Judiciary published the list of approved lawyers which
only had 20 names listed for all of Tehran. However, many of these lawyers reportedly have
close ties with the security forces or paid to appear on the list after speaking with government
1
CCPR.14.3.S.4; CCPR.14.3.S.4;
CCPR.14.3.P.2; ; CCPR.14.3.P.2;
CCPR.14.3.O.3; CCPR.14.3.O.3
2
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch03.php
3
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
4
Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) original version http://dotic.ir/print/5584
5
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
6
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)
1