and announced by the Head of the Judiciary at the phase of preliminary investigations.6 In 2018,
the Judiciary published the list of approved lawyers (including only 20 names for Tehran).
However, many of the lawyers named are reportedly close to the security bodies or had been
solicited for payments of money to appear on the list, threatening due process and questioning
the independence and neutrality of the Judiciary.7 As a consequence, the right to legal assistance
of one’s choosing in such cases is particularly limited.
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.8 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. 9 10
2. The right to be informed promptly of the nature and cause of the criminal
charges
Article 32 of the Constitution stipulates that the subject of the charge must be immediately
notified to the accused in writing.11 The revised Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP)12 introduces
disciplinary measures for anyone who summons or arrests an individual without sufficient
reason.13 Article 181 of the revised CCP provides that accused individuals are to be arrested
pursuant to a warrant which specifies a reason for the arrest and details pertaining to this reason,
signed by an investigating judge.14 However, there is no requirements for including an
explanation of the legal provision under which an individual is being arrested, enabling arrests
on the basis of vaguely defined terms such as “national security”.15
6
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)
7
“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)
8
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
9
HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/political-prisoner-denied-access-to-an-attorney>
10
HRANA <https://www.en-hrana.org/arash-sadegh-golrokh-iraeis-lawyers-access-cases
11
Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran < http://www.iranchamber.com/government/laws/constitution_ch03.php>
12
Code of Criminal Procedure of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2015) original version http://dotic.ir/print/5584
13
Amnesty International < https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF>
14
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
15
Amnesty International < https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF>
2