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. Of the hundreds of cases that the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre
has investigated of individuals arrested for political reasons, or suspected of committing ordinary
crimes, none of the individuals were interrogated with the presence of an attorney. 8 Similarly,
none of the death row prisoners Iran Human Rights has inquired about have had access to a
lawyer in the initial phase after their arrest.9 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. 10 11
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.12 According to reports that have been published in recent years, a number of
lawyers and judges are scrutinized by security intelligence institutions.13 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 Amid14, Payam Derafshan, Farokh
Forouzan, Mohammad Najafi, Amirsalar Davoudi, Nasrin Sotoudeh15 and Farzaneh Zilabi16 have
been persecuted and arrested by Iranian intelligence institutions.17 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. 18 19
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
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42313_E.pdf
9
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4732/
10
HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney
11
HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases
12
https://iranhrdc.org/iranian-bar-associations-struggle-for-independence/#4
13
HRANA https://www.en-hrana.org/annual-report-of-prosecuted-lawyers-in-iran
14
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4629/
15
https://iranhr.net/media/files/HRD_Report_Iran_Human_Rights_Eng.pdf
16
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4743
17
CSHR http://en.cshr.org.uk/2018/09/04/free-tribune-lawyers-condemns-detention-human-rights-lawyers/
18
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/
19
Iran Human Rights Defenders Report 2019/2020
2