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Mohammad Moghimi

The independent judiciary is of such high importance that it is considered one of the desirable principles of governance. In fact, the existence of an independent and efficient judiciary is a guarantee of the economic, social, cultural, and political security of a society. On the other hand, the necessity of an independent judiciary is a prerequisite for democracy and separation of powers. As stated in Article 156 of the Constitution, the independence of the courts is essential. Furthermore, in international human rights documents, including Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the independence of the judiciary has been identified.

But in every society and profession, committing offenses and corruption is unavoidable; even though the presence of democracy and other elements may minimize it, it never reaches zero. In case of committing an offense or corruption by a judicial authority, which competent authority is responsible for addressing it?!

If a judicial official commits a deliberate crime, the competent authority for handling their charge is the public court (criminal courts of Tehran), but first, the judge must be suspended from their judicial position (judicial immunity). However, if a judicial official commits a disciplinary offense related to their job duties, the competent authority for handling their charge is the prosecutor’s office and the disciplinary court.

According to the Law on Monitoring Judges, approved on 9/28/2011, the following offenses are considered part of the judges’ trackable offenses:

1- Announcing the judge’s opinion before issuing the verdict.

2- Non-binding or non-convincing vote.

3- Order for scheduling a hearing out of turn without justifiable reason.

4- Inappropriate behavior while performing a duty or on the occasion of it.

5- Avoid accepting documents and proposals from both parties and their lawyers for immediate registration and recording in the file.

6- Removing documents and proposals from the file.

7- Avoiding impartiality in performing judicial duties.

8- Accepting any kind of gift, service, or unusual privilege undermines the credibility of the judicial position.

9- Misconduct in Judicial Affairs (Misconduct in judicial affairs refers to any action that is recognized as intentional crime in the law or contrary to the customs of Muslim judges; in a way that judges consider it reprehensible).

It is worth mentioning that the jurisdiction over compensation claims arising from the mistake or fault of a judge falls under the authority of the Tehran Public Court, according to Article 171 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The consideration of such claims in the Public Court is subject to proving the fault or mistake of the judge in the disciplinary court of judges.

As mentioned, the independence of the judiciary and the implementation of the principle of separation of powers in the light of democracy play a crucial role in achieving judicial justice, but alongside that, monitoring the courts is also necessary and essential.