Iran: Criminal Procedures and Documents
From the report's introduction:
This report was drafted by Country of Origin Information (COI) specialists from COI units of Landinfo, the CGRS and SEM.
The purpose of this report is to provide relevant information for the assessment of international protection status determination (refugee status and subsidiary protection) in Iranian asylum applications...
The report is divided into five chapters. The first chapter gives a short overview of the most relevant law enforcement agencies and the security forces. The second chapter covers the main actors of the Iranian judiciary. The third chapter describes in detail how a court case is factually processed in Iran. The fourth chapter describes the electronic judicial database Adliran. The final chapter provides information about the rights of defendants in criminal procedures.
The report is not exhaustive in its coverage. It only details the constituents of the Iranian judiciary and law enforcement agencies that are considered to be important and relevant to the topic of criminal procedures. Institutions and elements considered less relevant for the target audience are left out or are only touched upon briefly. Crucially, the report focuses on how the judiciary and law enforcement agencies are supposed to work according to the legal theory in the law. In practice, Iranian courts and law enforcement agencies often disregard the rule of law. It is outside the scope of this report to cover all eventualities where this takes place. The report does provide general examples to indicate where courts and law enforcement agencies deviate in practice from the law; however, these examples do not aspire to be exhaustive. For further information regarding the actual track-record of the various courts and law enforcement agencies, it is recommended to consult the many human rights reports and other relevant literature on the subject.
Civil procedures are not covered in this report.
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