number of bar associations, free judicial assistance is provided to prisoners” and that “Social and judicial assistance units also provide legal counsel to prisoners.”14 However, in practice, defendants in national security cases are reportedly 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.15 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. 16 17 18 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 21 Above-mentioned information indicate that the Islamic Republic of Iran has not improved access of legal counsel to all files containing evidence against the accused. Recommendation Status: This recommendation has NOT been implemented. 14 National Report, UPR 2019, Islamic Republic of Iran, https://undocs.org/A/HRC/WG.6/34/IRN/1 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 16 HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney> 17 HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases 18 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, January 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/IR/Report_of_the_Special_Rapporteur_on_the_situation_of_human_rights_in_the_ Islamic_Republic_of_IranA4361.pdf 19 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, July 2020, https://documentsdds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N20/190/27/PDF/N2019027.pdf?OpenElement 20 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 21 Human Rights Watch <https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/03/24/iran-detainees-denied-fair-legal-representation> 15 3