June 17, 2016
Nine months after Iran’s new criminal law gave everyone arrested quick access to a lawyer, the authorities are denying people charged with political crimes any such right, Human Rights Watch has charged.
The group said it reached that conclusion after interviewing lawyers, political prisoners, family members and sources familiar with those facing national security and political charges.
Human Rights Watch documented several instances over the past year in which the detainees were denied access to lawyers during investigations or were forced to change their legal advocate under pressure by Judiciary officials.
Iran’s new criminal procedure law was approved in 2014 and entered into force last June. It stipulates that detainees may choose a lawyer while under investigation, with the exception of those accused of national security crimes, for whom such access could be delayed for up to a week. Article 190 of the law states, “Denial of access to legal defense would nullify the information obtained during the investigation.”
However, three days before the law went into effect, the Majlis passed amendments that further restricted the rights to a lawyer. The amended Article 48 now requires people accused of certain offenses to select their counsel from a pool of lawyers approved by the head of the Judiciary. These offenses include national or international security crimes, political and media crimes, and charges that incur capital punishment, life imprisonment, or retributive punishment (qasas), a rather long list.
The new amendments also eliminated the 2014 provision that information obtained in the absence of a lawyer would be inadmissible, imposing only disciplinary measures instead.
The Judiciary has yet to provide the list of pre-approved lawyers mandated by the new law. But even in the absence of a list, Human Rights Watch says, “Officials are using this provision to arbitrarily reject lawyers appointed by detainees or their families.”
Human Rights Watch further says, “Iran has consistently failed to prevent torture in detention and to investigate allegations of such abuse. Revolutionary courts use confessions obtained under torture as evidence in court. As a result, the right to access a lawyer from the time of an arrest is an important safeguard against abuses in detention.”
