Judiciary Chief of Iran Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi has reportedly issued a decree prohibiting detention of suspects without being formally charged. The announcement comes less than a week after Ayatollah Shahroudi ordered that no public executions would take place in Iran without his prior approval and banned the publication of photographs of these executions. The decree was reported by a number of Iranian newspapers, including the judiciary mouthpiece Hemayat. It reportedly ordered that the judicial apparatus should not hold suspects, issue summons or set bail without pressing charges. The report referred to Ayatollah Shahroudi’s decree as saying: “Refrain from summoning people without pressing charges. Refrain from holding people under arrest without pressing charges. Refrain from granting bail without pressing charges.”
The Judiciary chief issued the decree “because of the importance and the necessity of fully abiding by and implementing the prosecution regulations.”