Prison Confessions Have No Legal Validity

While pro-government news media report that detained political activists and journalists have made “confessions” of their wrong doing, legal scholar Mohammad Seifzadeh and lawmaker Dariush Ghanbari announced in an interview with Rooz that confessions extracted in prison lack legal validity and only serve political purposes.

True Defamation

Attorney, legal scholar and member of the Center for Defenders of Human Rights, Dr. Mohammad Seifzadeh, told Rooz that these recent confessions were political, adding that “According to the addendum to Article 188 of the rules of criminal procedure, until a final verdict is issued, the name, identity, confessions and investigations against a defendant cannot be publicized under any circumstances.  If newspapers or the state media engage in such an act, according to this law, what is published is an instance of defamation and can be legally pursued.” 

This legal scholar discussed Article 38 of the Constitution as well on the subject, noting that, “According to this provision, confessions extracted under inappropriate circumstances have no legal validity and cannot be used in a court of law.” 

He added, “That they [government agents] engage in such acts in violation of the specific letter of the law is a political game to derail the opposition.  Otherwise, there is no reason for these gentlemen to engage in acts that are clearly illegal.” 

Confessions Are Ineffective

On the same subject, a Majlis lawmaker Dariush Ghanbari, who is also the spokesperson for the Line of the Imam faction in the Majlis, believes, “Extracting confessions from political figures detained after the election and broadcasting them in effect points to the consolidation of the situation, which is concerning.”

This lawmaker insists that those who seek to extract confessions of this sort intend to impose certain views on society, which is not the correct thing to do, as it further inflames the situation.” 

Arguing that such confessions are ineffective, Dariush Ghanbari adds, “People and the public opinion feel that the confessions were extracted under pressure, and that is not good for the regime.” 

Emad Hosseini, member of the Line of the Imam faction, told Parleman News that extracting confessions and broadcasting them will further inflame the post-election turbulent situation.  He also warned that the government must not validate people’s fears by extracting confessions.

Judiciary Unaware

In this connection, a Rooz reporter contacted the office of Ayatollah Shahroudi, head of Iran’s judiciary, asking that while the recent detainees lack any access to attorneys and their citizenship and legal rights have been completely violated, how can certain newspapers report confessions that they claim were made by the detainees?  A member of Ayatollah Shahroudi’s office, who did not want to be identified, said, “We do not deal with any of these issues; contact the prosecutor’s office.” 

We contacted the office of Saeed Mortezavi, Tehran’s notorious prosecutor general.  A member of Mortezavi’s office said, “Contact the newspaper that has published these confessions.”

He did not identify himself by name or post either, but reiterated that the detainees are under no pressure or subjected to torture.  Responding to our request to interview Mortezavi, this member of Mortezavi’s office said, “You are welcome here, we actually have some work with you.” 

In this connection, we contacted 12 lawmakers today as well and posed the same question; but none of them were willing to respond.  When we reminded them that they represent the detainees and must follow up on their conditions, most of them said, “We cannot comment on this particular issue unless we are ready to be arrested.”