jurisdiction falls under the relevant adult criminal court. The accused person shall enjoy all the
privileges applicable to individuals who are tried by the Court for Children and Adolescents.6 7
The Committee on the rights of the Child explicitly stipulated that the “child justice system
should apply to all children above the age of criminal responsibility but below the age of 18
years at the time of the commission of the offence.” The Committee further recommended
member States “ensure a non-discriminatory full application of their child justice system to all
persons below the age of 18 years at the time of the offence.”8
With regards to proceedings, the Special Office of the Prosecutor for Children is assigned to
conduct investigations of offences committed by children aged between 15 and 18 years old.
However, in cases of zena (“adultery” or “fornication”), lavat (“male-male anal penetration”),
other “offences against decency”, as well as some ta’zir offences (those carrying discretionary
punishments) and in cases of crimes committed by children under the age of 15, investigations
are directly conducted by the court and the judges who preside over the trial.
Iranian law does not prescribe any limit on pretrial detention of defendants under 18. Nor does
Iranian law present any procedural safeguards to protect the privacy of child defendants. In
addition, there are no separate procedures for initiating investigations, issuing warrants against
children, or separating children vulnerable to domestic violence from their parents.
The Iranian judicial system has established several procedural mechanisms to administer juvenile
justice. However, the Islamic Republic still lacks a distinctive and comprehensive juvenile
justice system that prioritizes the best interest of the child. While there are positive aspects to the
new juvenile courts and juvenile branch of the criminal courts, these developments fail to bring
Iran’s juvenile justice system in line with the Convention. Neither court system is constructed
around the best interest of the child, nor are there any legal provisions requiring judges to take
the best interest of the child into account during criminal proceedings. 9
6
Code of Criminal Procedure, Note 2 to Article 304
See more : Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, https://iranhrdc.org/the-iranian-judiciary-a-complex-and-dysfunctionalsystem/#_Toc462333474
8
General comment No. 24 (2019) on children’s rights in the child justice system, CRC/C/GC/24,
https://undocs.org/CRC/C/GC/24
9
See more: Joint alternative report by civil society organizations on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the
Child by the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2015,
https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CRC/Shared%20Documents/IRN/INT_CRC_NGO_IRN_19809_E.pdf
7
2