Why has Iran’s judiciary been unable to gain public trust over the last 40 years? What are the basic problems of the institution, the original primary goals of which were to”litigate, protect public rights and implement justice” in order to “uphold individual and social rights”?
In this series, IranWire will look at the structural problems of the judicial branch of government, relying on concrete examples and statements from legal experts to build a picture of the judiciary and whether it functions according to the principles on which it was originally based.
In the first part of the series, IranWire looked at the independence and impartiality of Iran’s judiciary. The second article looked at the protracted trial process, which successive judiciary heads have promised to reform, without success.
This, the third article, addresses corruption in the judiciary.
“My client was sentenced to death for drug possession. His wife, a young and beautiful woman, was constantly going from building to building, coming and going, following the case.
We tried our best, but we could not get close to the desired result. Then I found out that my client’s wife was completely discouraged from following the case and stopped trying.
Finally, my client was sentenced to a commuted life imprisonment. Later, his wife told me that one afternoon, during a follow-up, the judge asked to have sex with her, and she agreed, to save her husband’s life.
On the advice of a close friend, she recorded the judge’s voice. When she found out that the judge did not keep his promise, she sent the audio file and documents she had in her possession. She forced the judge to cooperate.”
These are the comments of the first lawyer I contacted about corruption in the judiciary. The lawyer still lives in Iran and asked not to be named.
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