Restricting Access to Counsel in the Iranian Criminal Justice System

In the new criminal justice systems, three legal models can be identified in relation with right to access to counsel: "the counsel guarantee model", "the counsel restriction model", and "the mixed model." In the first case, the right to access to counsel is considered as one of the standards of fair trial, and appropriate policies are adopted to “guarantee” it. In the second model, criminal policymakers create countless constraints on having access to counsel. In the mixed model, besides guaranteeing maximum access to the counsel, they also restrict it as necessary. The present study, which examined the restricting policies of access to counsel in the legal system of Iran, concluded that the Iranian criminal justice system adopted the mixed model and accepted some guaranteeing policies, but in this legal system, at least eight types of restricting policies are anticipated, most of which are incompatible with the international standards of "fair advocacy" and the thirty-fifth article of the Constitutional Act..