according to Article 35 of the Iranian Constitution a lawyer will be provided.16 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 beginning of his/her
detention.”17 18
However, the right to access a lawyer of one’s choice is limited by a note to Article 48 of the
2015 CCP19 for individuals facing charges for certain offences, such as those related to national
security and organised crime. In such cases, the individual must select their legal counsel during
the preliminary investigative phase, from a limited list of lawyers approved and announced by
the Head of the Judiciary.20 In 2018, the Judiciary published the list of approved lawyers which
only had 20 names listed for all of Tehran. However, many of these lawyers reportedly have
close ties with the security forces or allegedly paid government officials to appear on the list,
raising questions as to their ability to fairly represent their clients.21
The CCP provides for free legal assistance in both the pre-trial and trial phase for those accused
of crimes which carry the death penalty. 22 However, In May 2019, the Iranian legal and judicial
parliamentary commission proposed an amendment to Article 48 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure. The amendment would allow the prosecution to delay access to a lawyer for 20 days,
with a possibility of extending such delay to the whole duration of the investigation, in cases
related to national security, terrorism or financial corruption.23 24 Such an amendment would
further restrict access to legal counsel during the phase of investigation.
Despite the existence of several means and mechanisms that accept complaints regarding the
violation of rights in Iran, such as the Judge’s Disciplinary Court, the Article 90 Parliamentary
16
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch03.php
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
18
Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) original version http://dotic.ir/print/5584
19
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
20
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)
21
“Iranian Lawyers Criticize Proposal to Deprive Defendants of Right to Choose Counsel,” Human Rights Activists in Iran, June
6, 2018 (https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/3443)
22
Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF
23
Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/newsletter/issue/99
24
Amnesty International, www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde13/0379/2019/en/ ;
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/05/iran-proposed-law-restricting-access-to-lawyer-would-be-crushing-blow-forjustice/
17
3