Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran
A/70/411 para 101
Full recommendation:
Encourages officials to reconsider amendments that would undermine the initially positive
efforts to facilitate access of detained suspects to legal counsel during the investigation phase of
their cases.
Assessment drafted using Impact Iran indicators1
Article 35 of Iran’s Constitution stipulates that when a party to a lawsuit is unable to secure legal
counseling “the means of a lawyer being appointed to act for them must be made available to
them.” 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.” Article 48 of the
CCP permits the accused to “demand the presence of a lawyer from the start of detention”, yet its
note prohibits defendants in political and security cases from having access to legal counsel of
their choice during pre-trial stages of their prosecution, which is usually when most violations
are committed by officials. 2
Although the CCP guarantees the right to free legal assistance for those without adequate
financial resources, the applicability of this right is differentiated between the pre-trial and trial
phases. For instance, the CCP does not ensure access to free legal assistance during the
investigation phase in cases where the accused faces charges other than those punishable by
severe punishments such as the death penalty or life imprisonment. As a consequence,
safeguards provided in the Iranian legal framework fall short to protect the accused person’s
right to access legal counsel in the pre-trial phase. In many reported cases, especially national
security cases, defendants have reported seeing their lawyer for the first time on their day of trial.
Prisoners reportedly remained incarcerated without proper access to legal representation at all
stages of their trial process and lawyers were reportedly denied timely access to their clients'
legal files.3 Yet, the Human Rights Committee has explicitly stipulated that the accused should
be granted prompt access to legal counsel, including during the pre-trial phase.4 In May 2019,
the Iranian legal and judicial parliamentary commission proposed an amendment to Article 48 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure which would allow the prosecution to delay access to a lawyer
1
Indicators used: CCPR.14.3.S.4; CCPR.9.2.P.1; CCPR.14.3.O.3.
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center https://iranhrdc.org/amendments-to-the-islamic-republic-of-irans-code-of-criminalprocedure-part-1/
3
“If You Are Arrested for Murder and You Don’t Have Money,” Iran Students News Agency. 1 February 2018,
https://www.isna.ir/news/96111106756 and https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/03/24/iran-detainees-denied-fair-legalrepresentation
4
ICCPR Article 14: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CCPR.aspx
2
1