The Administration of Criminal Justice in Iran

doi:10.1017/9781108630603.003

3 - The Administration of Criminal Justice in Iran

Ideology, Judicial Personalism, and the Cynical Manipulation of Security

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 April 2025

Drewery Dyke and

Hadi Enayat

Edited by

Hadi Enayat and

Mirjam Künkler

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Hadi Enayat: Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, Aga Khan University
Mirjam Künkler: Affiliation:
Institute for Advanced Legal Study

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Summary

The chapter analyzes the nature and evolution of the administration of criminal justice in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Although current Iranian law incorporates a range of provisions intended to protect the rights of the accused in criminal prosecutions, in practice these provisions are routinely violated. It is argued that the violations of due process in the Islamic Republic of Iran are the result of several factors. First, the criminal justice system has been configured to deal with political opposition as an existential threat to the state, resulting in frequent executive interference in the judicial process and arbitrary trials in revolutionary courts. Second, the structural subordination of the judiciary to the effective power of the Supreme Leader and specific executive agencies has eroded the rule of law. Third, the ideological imperative to Islamize the judicial system after the 1979 Revolution has led to the adoption of judicial procedures that have given judges very wide discretion in the conduct and outcome of cases, notably in criminal law.

Keywords

criminal law criminal procedure securitization knowledge of the judge (ʿelm-e qāzi)qesās (retaliation)bakshesh (forgiveness/clemency)revolutionary courts judiciary public prosecutor

Type: Chapter
Information: The Rule of Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Power, Institutions, and the Limits of Reform
, pp. 66 - 103

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108630603.003 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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