Refusing to Testify in Law and Jurisprudence (Iran and Some Western and Arabic Countries)

Document Type : Original Article

Author

A PhD student of Criminal Law and Criminology

Abstract

“Testifying” has always been proposed as the reason for proving the claim in legal systems, yet in our country due to lack of requirement of the witness to testify on the one hand, and considering the fact that the basic principle is the exemption of denier, testimony as the reason of proving has to some extent lost its efficiency. This article attempts to consider the requirement of the witness to testify in the jurisprudence and the law of Iran and a number of Western and Arabic countries. In the first chapter, after discussing and studying the narratives, verses and views of jurisprudents, the writer has come to the conclusion that bearing witness (to witness) is not obligatory, but obligatory of testifying in terms of its conditions is accepted by Muslims unanimously and refusing from bearing it is considered as a great sin. Studying the testifying in the law of Iran and in a number of western and Arabic countries in accordance with the documents, the second chapter has reached to this conclusion that the Laws of Iran, in contrary to the Islamic jurisprudence, have not accepted the requirement of the witness to testify, but the Laws of western and Arabic countries, in agreement with the Islamic jurisprudence, have regarded the refusing to testify as a crime and considered punishment for it.
 

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