Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/HRC/25/61 para 96(c)
Full recommendation:
Most of the said violations are reportedly committed during pretrial detention or court sessions.
The Special Rapporteur therefore urges the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to
consider the following recommendations: To improve access of legal counsel to all files
containing evidence against the accused;
Assessment using Impact Iran human rights indicators1
The guarantee of to the right to legal defense is enshrined in Article 35 of the Constitution of the
Islamic Republic of Iran, which also ensures the right to choose a lawyer and stipulates that
when a party to a lawsuit is unable to secure legal counseling “the means of a lawyer being
appointed to act for them must be made available to them.”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 start of detention.”3 4
However, the right to access a lawyer of one’s choosing is limited by a note to Article 48 of the
2015 CCP,5 which 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.6 In 2018, the Judiciary published the list of approved lawyers
(including only 20 names for Tehran). However, many of the lawyers named are reportedly close
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