Establishing Circumstances Favorable to the Accused from the Perspective of Imāmī Jurisprudence and Its Application to Iranian Law

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Abdollah Gholami ¹

Javad Ehsani ²

Mohammad Ali Shahrabadi ³

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Theology, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran

² Master’s Graduate, Department of Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Islamic Azad University, Damavand Branch, Tehran, Iran

³ PhD Student, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran

10.22067/jfiqh.2025.86526.1732

Abstract

After a claim has been initiated and admitted by the accused, the accused may sometimes attempt to justify his conduct by invoking defenses such as legitimate defense, necessity, or other grounds. Such grounds constitute circumstances favorable to the accused, as they may remove, justify, or mitigate criminal responsibility. Their invocation may also transform the nature of the proceedings. In such circumstances, considering the rule “al-bayyina ʿalā al-muddaʿī”, the burden of proof generally falls upon the claimant (who, in this case, is the accused). However, in Iranian criminal law, the presumption of innocence as the governing principle has made the accused unnecessary from proving his innocence. In cases where the accused seeks to acquit himself by presenting claims such as legitimate defense, necessity, or insanity, the question is whether the burden of proving circumstances favorable to the accused lies upon himself or the judicial authority. This article, employing a descriptive-analytical method and relying on Imāmī jurisprudence sources and Iranian enacted laws, examines the proof of circumstances favorable to the accused and concludes that, although the presumption of innocence governs the Iranian legal system, in cases where the accused raises a specific claim, the burden of proving it rests upon him. This study also discusses cases in which jurists have departed from the rule of evidence (bayyinih) in ḥudūd, meaning purely divine-right crimes (ḥaqq Allāhī), and have accepted the accused’s claim without requiring proof. The findings of this research may contribute to achieving a balance between the rights of the accused and the authority of the judicial system.

Keywords

proof of evidence

accused

favorable circumstances

transformation of claim

juristic foundations of proof of evidence

Subjects

• Jurisprudence and criminal law

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