Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Research and development in criminal law and criminology

False testimony outside the court through jurisprudence and criminal law “Review and criticism of the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court General Board No. 835”

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
sajjad kazemi 1
mohammad kakavand 2
1 Associate Professor, Department of Law, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran
2 Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran
10.22034/jclc.2025.2075269.1271
Abstract
Witness testimony may be given in court or outside of it and before authorities such as the prosecutor's office, the Dispute Resolution Council, branches of the Supreme Court, or even in notary offices. The question is, first, can testimony given outside of court actually have the effects of testimony as a religious or legal evidence? Second, if this testimony is given falsely, is giving false testimony outside of court punishable from the perspective of jurisprudence and customary criminal law? Although Article 650 of the Islamic Jurisprudence Act of 1375 (1996) considers false testimony "in court and before official authorities" a crime and punishable, the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court No. 835 dated 06/28/1402 (1996) also considers testimony given in a "prosecutor's office" to be included in this article and punishable. This approach of the General Board of the Supreme Court, in addition to being contrary to the express text of the law, also provides the reason for expanding the scope of the article, which is contrary to the principle of interpretation in favor of the accused in criminal matters. In addition, in jurisprudential sources, since testimony if it is "in the presence of the judge" contains the value and effects of testimony as a religious evidence, therefore, it is generally punishable only if false testimony is given before the judge who issued the sentence. The present study aims to answer the above questions and criticize the unanimous decision No. 835 of the General Board of the Supreme Court, written in a descriptive-analytical and critical manner. The method of collecting information is also library and documentary. It seems that this unanimous decision has caused the undue generalization and development of Article 650 of the Islamic Penal Code, and the preference of expediency over legalism by the General Board of the Supreme Court in issuing the unanimous decision No. 835 is considered an undesirable and dangerous procedure that will have numerous effects and consequences.
Keywords
false testimony
court
prosecution
punishment
Supreme Court

Subjects

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Research and development in criminal law and criminology

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 19 November 2025