Explaining the basics and nature of imprisonment resulting from financial convictions in Iranian law with regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Elyasi Zavareh, Ehsan; Ashrafy, Mahmood; Heidari, Masoud

doi:10.22034/api.2025.2064055.1354

Explaining the basics and nature of imprisonment resulting from financial convictions in Iranian law with regard to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

ehsan Elyasi Zavareh

mahmood ashrafy

masoud heidari

Department of law, Institute of Islamic governance, Isf.C., Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran.

10.22034/api.2025.2064055.1354

Abstract

The developments in the criminal justice system regarding the deprivation of liberty of financial convicts are due to the change in the legislator's attitude towards the origin of debt and also the nature of this type of imprisonment; however.Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political.Rights, as the most important rule with guaranteed international enforcement in this case, stipulates: "No one shall be imprisoned solely on the ground of inability to fulfill her contractual obligations’’. Also, Article 40 of the Constitution stipulates: “No one may use the exercise of his right as a means of harming others or violating public interests.” However, Iran’s current regulations regarding the treatment of convicted criminals, although they are more in line with the Covenant than before, are still in conflict with this article of the Covenant. The results of this research show that although the previous problems were largely resolved with the approval of the law on the implementation of financial convictions in 2015,, and the existence of some debts may still cause an individual to go to prison due to non-payment of debts and based on the legal provisions contained in laws such as the Code of Procedure and the Tax Law, but this imprisonment does not contradict the provisions of the Covenant. The research method is descriptive-analytical, and the library method was used to collect the literature on the subject, using the method of taking notes of the materials and analyzing the materials.

Keywords

deprivation of liberty

financial conviction

execution of sentences

debt

Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Subjects