October 30, 2020
The Judiciary has issued an order banning torture, the use of “forced confessions,” solitary confinement, illegal police detentions, and other violations of defendants’ rights.
Many of the practices prohibited by the document are already prohibited by the Constitution, such as torture and forced confessions. Therefore, the utility of the document was unclear. The document did not pledge to enforce the prohibitions or carry any announcement of punishment for violators.
The “document on judicial security” was signed by Iran’s Judiciary chairman, Ebrahim Raisi, and announced October 15 on Mizan Online, the Judiciary’s news agency.
The document also stressed the “transparency” of the judicial process, including the right to freely choose a lawyer and “the principle of the presumption of innocence.” Again, these are guaranteed in the Constitution but routinely ignored.
The document also guaranteed “consular access” for foreign nationals. But it did not change the rule that dual citizenship is not recognized, so that foreign consuls are not allowed to see dual citizens.
The publication of the charter comes a week after videos posted on social media showed police officers beating detainees in pickup trucks, sparking anger across the country. In the videos, apparently filmed in Tehran, the detainees are also made to apologize for the “mistakes” they were said to have made.
Raisi said the police action was a “case of violation of civil rights,” according to Mizan Online. He ordered the punishment of those responsible, saying it was “strictly forbidden to attack the accused, even if they are thugs.”
Raisi, 59, who is close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi, was picked by him to lead the Judiciary in March 2019, reportedly with a mission of transforming an institution mired in corruption.
Raisi ran in the 2017 presidential elections with the support of a broad conservative coalition, but was beaten by Hassan Rohani, who won a second term.
Iranian media see Raisi as a possible candidate in the next presidential election,