Moral and Material Compensation Arising out of Eleven Years of Wrongful Imprisonment: An Analytical–Comparative Examination of Judgments Rendered by Branch 20 of the Tehran Public Civil Court and Branch 25 of the Tehran Provincial Appellate Court

Javaherkalam, Mohammad Hadi

doi:10.22034/analysis.2026.2083196.1183

Moral and Material Compensation Arising out of Eleven Years of Wrongful Imprisonment: An Analytical–Comparative Examination of Judgments Rendered by Branch 20 of the Tehran Public Civil Court and Branch 25 of the Tehran Provincial Appellate Court

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Mohammad Hadi Javaherkalam

Assistant Professor of Private Law, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/analysis.2026.2083196.1183

Abstract

An analytical and comparative review of Judgment No. 140368390019453208 dated February 18, 2025 rendered by Branch 20 of the Tehran Public Civil Court and Judgment No. 140468390012329495 dated September 28, 2025 rendered by Branch 25 of the Tehran Provincial Appellate Court regarding compensation for damages resulting from 11 years of wrongful imprisonment demonstrates the commendable efforts of the courts to move beyond traditional interpretations and find a solution to compensate for the material and moral damages incurred by an injured party who spent many years in prison due to a flaw in the judicial system or a systemic error and was then proven innocent by a later judgment.The analysis of the two fundamental challenges in the aforementioned judgments shows that, first, the court’s decision to declare its jurisdiction to hear the case without observing the formalities stipulated in Article 30 of the Law on Supervision of the Conduct of Judges and the binding precedent No. 791 dated July 20, 2020 rendered by the General Board of the Supreme Court, was correct; although no proper reasoning is seen in the judgments. Secondly, compensation for material damage resulting from wrongful imprisonment, based on the “minimum wages of an unskilled worker”, arguing that the claimant has not claimed and proven that he has suffered additional damage is not inappropriate. However, given that the declared minimum wage is low compared to what is required to cover living expenses and the fact that its value depreciates over time, it would have been better for the court to resort to other criteria to fully compensate for the damages.In contrast, French judicial precedent simply mandates compensation for deprivation of income and wages, loss of realistic chances to earn income and employment, loss of economic opportunities, and incidental expenses. Furthermore, the determination of the amount of 250,000 Tomans as compensation for each day of imprisonment in accordance with Article 529 of the Criminal Procedure Code and its consideration as material damages is questionable.On the other hand, by innovation of the concept of "spiritual death", the court has taken a big step towards full compensation for damages; although it would have been appropriate to determine a full blood money only to compensate for the psychological damage caused by going to the gallows and to order more damages for enduring 11 years of imprisonment, considering the length of detention, the age of the victim, the presence or absence of a criminal record, the prison environment, the impact of detention on personal and family reputation and dignity, and similar criteria that are also used as bases for action in French law. Also, the necessity of issuing a ruling on non-monetary compensation for moral damages (such as requiring an apology to the victim or publishing the judgment on websites and in newspapers) is not seen in the text of the judgments.

Keywords

judicial fault

systemic error

wrongful (unlawful) imprisonment

material and moral compensation

jurisdiction

spiritual death

state civil liability

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