Arresting of Witness from the Perspective of Iran Law and International Instruments; what is and what ought to be

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Abstract

Principle 38 of constitution law states:”any torture for confession or getting information is forbidden. Forcing people to testify, confession or oath is not valid and this testimony and confession and oath in not acceptable before the court”. The offender who breaches this norm will be punished under the Islamic criminal law. On the other hand, article 159 of criminal procedure law states: every witness of an investigation and a person who are aware must be available at the specified time, otherwise they will be summoned for second time and if they and not available without any acceptable reasons, they would be arrested according to the courts order. These two articles raise a question as to why these two articles stabilize this rule. In other word, what is the base of these rules while the constitution law says that arresting a witness and forcing them to testify is punishable? On the other hand, international documents consider the role of witness in finding truth and emphasize to defend their rights. This article is going to criticize the condition of witness arresting in criminal justice of Iran.

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