The Rights of Defendants and Sick Criminals in the Iranian Penal System

When a disease overwhelms a person, it causes him to lose the abilities he normally had. The same inability also affects both the power of perception and defense against criminal charges, and if a sick person is suspected, like healthy people, he will not be able to defend and present evidence. In this case, neglecting his situation causes the principle of equality of arms, which is one of the main examples of equality of the parties in criminal proceedings and one of the pillars of a fair trial, to be violated. On the other hand, once a patient is convicted, a punishment similar to that of healthy people may aggravate his or her illness or delay his or her recovery. It is therefore necessary to have a differential trial between the accused and the sick criminals, to guarantee and respect their rights. Taking this into account, in this article we intend to examine the rights of defendants and sick criminals in the Iranian penal system. The results of the present study indicate that the Iranian legislature has referred to the rights of defendants and sick criminals in criminal proceedings, however, it is has not been comprehensive and has been sporadic.