limited list of lawyers approved and announced by the Head of the Judiciary at the phase of preliminary investigations.9 Such appointment does not guarantee the independence of legal aid for criminal defendants, including child and juvenile defendants. Further, in May 2019, the Iranian legal and judicial parliamentary commission proposed an amendment to Article 48 of the CCP which would allow the prosecution to delay access to a lawyer for 20 days, with possibility of extension to the whole duration of investigation in cases related to national security, terrorism of financial corruption.1011 Such amendment would severely restrict access to legal counsel during the pre-trial phase, including for child and juvenile defendants. 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.12 For instance, the CCP does not ensure access to free legal assistance during the investigation phase in cases where the accused face 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 of protecting the accused person’s right to access legal counsel in the pre-trial phase, including for children and juveniles. With regards to the provision of legal aid to defendants, including child defendants, during the trial phase, the presence of a defence lawyer during a trial is required only for cases in front of the high criminal court. Under Article 415 of the new Criminal Procedure, which specifically deals with juvenile and child defendants, the presence of an attorney is not required in trials for less serious ta’zir crimes (i.e. those with discretionary punishments), meaning a public defender would not be provided in such cases. Article 415 also states that in these cases, a parent or the child can conduct the defence.13 According to the Iran Human Rights Documentation Center, child defendants are frequently charged with these less serious categories of offenses, especially girls accused of prostitution, a crime punishable by flogging. Even in cases where a child defendant is eligible for state funded legal aid, there is no system in place to prioritize attorneys for children.14 In practice, authorities in Iran frequently restrict or limit access to a lawyer even in situations where it is legally permitted or required. Defendants in national security cases are often denied 9 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) 10 Abdorrahman Boroumand Center, https://www.iranrights.org/newsletter/issue/99 11 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/ 12 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1327082016ENGLISH.PDF 13 Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 415, https://bit.ly/2T0Sgja 14 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 2