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After the June 12th election, very hefty sums have been announced as bail. The question has been raised for those not familiar with Iran as to the manner in which bail works in Iran. Bail an important role in the Islamic Republic of Iran’s policy of crushing the dissent. In the Iranian judicial system, bail has a legal basis; it is issued by the court when the court wishes to release the accused temporarily. According to section 4 of article 132 of the Criminal Procedural Code for the Public and Revolutionary Courts, bail can be paid out in forms of cash, bank promissory note, and moveable or immoveable property. Bail is issued to assure the court that, whenever access to the accused is necessary, be it for completion of the case file or trial, the accused will be present in court. In other words, bail is a method of accessing the accused when needed. Amount of bail varies for different cases. However, it does not mean that the judge has the right to assign a bail amount to his liking. The law places limitations on the judge for issuing bail. Article 134 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Public and Revolutionary Court assigns that the bail amount must be in accordance to the significance of the crime the accused allegedly committed and the punishment that he will potentially receive if convicted. The bail amount must be proportional to the accused’s possibility of flight, background, health, age, and status in the community. For example, the bail assigned for someone who does not have a criminal background, has a respectable social or professional status, or is old will not be very high and will be set by the judge in accordance with what was said above. There is no chart, only criterions to refer to for setting the bail. The judge must set the bail without prejudice. From a legal perspective, when the court summons the accused in order to complete the research and investigation, if the accused does not appear in front of the court, the court will ask the person who posted the bail to show the whereabouts of the accused. Once the legal proceedings are passed, if the person who posted the bail is not able to produce the accused, then the Judiciary will confiscate the bail to the benefit of the government. If the accused is present in court or the case if closed and processed, whether or not the accused ends up in prison or is legally released, the bail will be released to the person posting it.
In Iran, people rather not post bail by paying cash or movable property as the belief amongst them is that once money is paid to the government, it will never be returned. So instead, people rather post the bail through a property deed that can not be confiscated easily. When a property is placed as bail, the court sends an expert to assess the value of the property and determine whether or not it is valued at a price enough to cover the bail. The expert will then write up a note stating that the property will cover the bail of the accused up to the amount of bail. If the person posting the bail is not able to produce the accused when the court calls on him, the judiciary will go through the legal process and puts the property on sale. Once sold, the amount equivalent to the bail will be taken from the profit and the remainder is given back to the person who posted the bail.
So far the process is legal and similar to how the concept of bail works in other parts of the world. However, the process becomes political when the Iranian judiciary uses bail in order to crush and keep the opposition in check. Since the judiciary is not independent in Iran and deals with the opposition and the critiques with the aim of removing them from the scene, it initially portrays their charges to be very heavy by showing the videos of the accused confessing to dangerous crimes. This serves a few purposes. Due to his confessions, the accused will be a tool in the hands of Judiciary. Also, a number of other people can be arrested using the confessions. Then, when the person is to be released, due to international and local pressures, since the crime has been shown to be very serious, the bail, which is set according to the crime, will be very high. Once the accused is released and has left the country, in order not to anger the government to the point that they would summon him, since then, as mentioned above, the property of the person who posted the bail will be lost due to the accused’s absence in court, he will not speak of what transpired to him in prison. Also another difference in the way bail is practiced in Iran is the utter lack of respect for due process of law when it comes to having a trial in a timely fashion. The Iranian Judiciary will delay the trial to prevent the accused from forming a sense of security as well as to keep the person who posted the bail attentive of the accused’s behavior. In all such cases, what results is the neutralization of the activities of the civil, political and human rights activists. Currently there are plenty of cases in Iran for which the accused has been released on bail years ago but the trial has not yet convened so as to keep him quiet and in limbo. This method of crushing the opposition has so far been effective for the Islamic Republic. Hence, although the money produced from the posted bail is deposited into the Judiciary’s treasury, the aim of the government for setting such high bails for the civil and political activists is not monetary benefits. The aim is merely political; it is enforcing silence and removal of dissidents from activity out of fear.
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