Legal Deputy of Rouhani: 40 Million Iranians Are Involved in Legal Issues

The legal deputy of the Iranian president announced that there are 19 million cases in the judicial courts, dispute resolution councils, and justice courts, stating that 40 million Iranians are engaged with 'legal and judicial issues.' According to ILNA, on Tuesday, January 8, Elham Aminzadeh said, 'Currently, there are 10 million cases in the judicial courts, 3.5 million cases in the dispute resolution councils, and 5.5 million cases in the justice courts.' She added, 'If each family has 4 members, this indicates that 40 million people are involved with legal and judicial issues.' Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice, had stated in June that a total of 9,816,428 cases were filed with the judiciary last year, with 6,220,995 cases in various judicial units and 3,595,433 cases in the dispute resolution branches. Hamid Shahriari, head of the Statistics and Information Technology Center of the judiciary, also stated on July 8 that the number of cases entering the courts in the year 1392 (2013) exceeded 10,311,000 when accounting for duplicate cases. According to Shahriari, the number of non-duplicate cases entering the courts during this period was over 6,220,000. The legal deputy of the Iranian president also mentioned that by educating individuals, the rate of crimes decreases and the need for access to lawyers is reduced. She added, 'Unfortunately, we currently see that legal education is mainly provided for middle and capable individuals in society, while this education should also be available among deprived individuals.' Aminzadeh noted that currently some mosques and charity centers provide this education, but this process is not systematic.