incarcerated without proper access to legal representation at all stages of their trial process
and lawyers denied timely access to their clients' legal files. 34 35 36 Defendants in national
security cases are often denied access to a lawyer in the investigative stage of the judicial
process. 37 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. 38
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.39 Access to legal aid is therefore not
effective in practice in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Article 90 Commission of the Parliament is in charge of investigating complaints from
citizens made against the operations of the Parliament itself, the executive and the judiciary.40
There is no readily available information indicating the number of complaints of violations to
the right of access to legal counsel received and investigated by the Article 90 Commission.
Recommendation Status:
This recommendation has NOT been implemented
34
HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases
HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney>
36
HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/court-prevents-lawyer-accessing-files-five-sunni-prisoners>
37
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
38
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CCPR_ICS_IRN_42313_E.pdf
39
https://iranhr.net/en/articles/4732/
40
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/internal-regulation-on-the-commission-of-article-90-of-theconstitution/
35
4