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, defendants in national security cases are 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
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