21/08/2022 Advocacy, Human Rights Committee, Research, Submissions, Treaty Bodies

Joint Submission: Fair Trial, Due Process & Iran’s Compliance with the ICCPR

A submission from:

The Abdorrahman Boroumand Center (ABC)
Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRANA)
Impact Iran &
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC)
,

provided to the Human Rights Committee in conjunction with its upcoming 136th session, which will take place between October 10 and November 4 2022. Read the submission’s introduction below, and find the full document here.

The 1979 Islamic Revolution set in motion a radical transformation of Iran’s justice system with the introduction of Shari’a law and the setting up of ad-hoc revolutionary tribunals – still in place today – that did away with the presumption of innocence and the right to defense.[1] Those accused were detained in inhuman conditions in overcrowded prisons, deprived of minimum treatment standards, and exposed to long solitary confinement and torture to coerce self-incriminating confessions. These courts summarily tried thousands of people, denying defendants the right to counsel and the right to appeal. Thousands were executed following these summary trials and behind closed doors.

Today, despite some improvements, a severe due process crisis remains one of the most pernicious legacies of post-revolutionary justice and these most basic concepts of justice have yet to be properly integrated into Iran’s judicial culture.[2] Denial of access to legal counsel during interrogation, coerced confessions as sole evidence, used as the basis for sentencing in criminal trials are examples of serious violations of the right to a fair trial and due process that remain.  In light of the high number of criminalized acts (around 2,600,[3] close to 200 of which carry the death penalty) and the routine practice of mass arrests, these violations of the ICCPR  impact millions of people, citizens and non-citizens, and need to be addressed urgently.


[1] https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/90/ayatollah-khomeini-on-the-defendants-right-to-counsel-april-1979https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/2178/ayatollah-khomeini-and-the-presumption-of-innocence-decree-on-the-establishment-of-the-islamic-revolutionary-tribunalhttps://www.iranrights.org/library/document/186/ayatollah-sadeq-khalkhali-judge-at-the-islamic-revolutionary-tribunal-on-the-defendants-right-to-counselhttps://www.iranrights.org/attachments/library/doc_233.pdf.

[2] “The main problem of our judiciary is that it follows the style of the unhealthy Western judiciary system. In other words, once the file has been transferred from the police to the judiciary, there is the process of appointing a lawyer, followed by the lawyer’s advice to the offender to retract the frank recorded confessions made in the initial stages and to accuse the police of torture, and, subsequently, months of waiting for the trial, then the preliminary verdict, followed by the appeal court stage, and, ultimately, after several months, some feeble verdict is issued. Not only does this fail to act as a deterrent, but it serves to make the thugs and hooligans even more audacious.” Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, source of emulation, July 22, 2011 https://www.iranrights.org/library/document/2701

[3] According to Majles Deputy Abolfazl Abutorabi, member of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Majles (Mizan Online, October 11, 2018 https://www.mizanonline.com/fa/news/459011)

UPCOMING EVENTS

(all times in EST)

29 05 23
  • International Day of UN Peacekeepers

    29 05 23

31 05 23
  • World No-Tobacco Day

    31 05 23

01 06 23
  • Global Day of Parents

    01 06 23

04 06 23
  • International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression

    04 06 23

05 06 23
  • World Environment Day

    05 06 23

06 06 23
  • Russian Language Day

    06 06 23

08 06 23
  • World Oceans Day

    08 06 23

12 06 23
  • World Day Against Child Labour

    12 06 23

13 06 23
  • International Albinism Awareness Day

    13 06 23

14 06 23
  • World Blood Donor Day

    14 06 23

15 06 23
  • World Elder Abuse Awareness Day

    15 06 23

16 06 23
  • International Day of Family Remittances

    16 06 23

17 06 23
  • World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

    17 06 23

18 06 23
  • Sustainable Gastronomy Day

    18 06 23

19 06 23
  • International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict

    19 06 23

20 06 23
  • World Refugee Day

    20 06 23

21 06 23
  • International Day of Yoga

    21 06 23

23 06 23
  • International Widows' Day

    23 06 23

  • United Nations Public Service Day

    23 06 23

25 06 23
  • Day of the Seafarer

    25 06 23

26 06 23
  • International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking

    26 06 23

  • United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

    26 06 23

27 06 23
  • Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day

    27 06 23

29 06 23
  • International Day of the Tropics

    29 06 23

30 06 23
  • International Asteroid Day

    30 06 23

01 07 23
  • International Day of Cooperatives

    01 07 23

11 07 23
  • World Population Day

    11 07 23

15 07 23
  • World Youth Skills Day

    15 07 23

18 07 23
  • Nelson Mandela International Day

    18 07 23

28 07 23
  • World Hepatitis Day

    28 07 23

30 07 23
  • International Day of Friendship

    30 07 23

  • World Day against Trafficking in Persons

    30 07 23

09 08 23
  • International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples

    09 08 23

12 08 23
  • International Youth Day

    12 08 23

19 08 23
  • World Humanitarian Day

    19 08 23

23 08 23
  • International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition

    23 08 23

29 08 23
  • International Day against Nuclear Tests

    29 08 23

30 08 23
  • International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances

    30 08 23

05 09 23
  • International Day of Charity

    05 09 23

  • UNGA77: Closing of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly

    05 09 23

08 09 23
  • International Literacy Day

    08 09 23

12 09 23
  • UNGA 78: Opening of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly

    12 09 23

  • United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation

    12 09 23

15 09 23
  • International Day of Democracy

    15 09 23

16 09 23
  • International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer

    16 09 23

21 09 23
  • International Day of Peace

    21 09 23

26 09 23
  • International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons

    26 09 23

27 09 23
  • World Tourism Day

    27 09 23