Dr. Samira Soleymanzadeh (University of Tehran): Maternal Lineage and Nationality – The Perspective of Iran's New Act

About the Speaker
Dr. Samira Soleymanzadeh is a graduate of the University of Tehran, where she obtained her Bachelor of Law in 2011 and in 2014 her Masters in Private Law, with a focus on international business and securities law. She authored her PhD dissertation on CGs and PIL. Her book, "Commercial Corporate Groups, the Jurisdiction and the Applicable Law", was recently published. She was awarded scholarships from the MPI (2016), the DAAD (2018), and the Hague Academy of International Law (2020), and she has published widely on commercial law, corporate law, private international law, contract law, WTO law, and Islamic law. She has been a lecturer in public and private universities in Iran since 2014 and has also been an attorney at law since 2011. As a lawyer and legal consultant, she is focused on international corporate and commercial cases. Presently, she is a lecturer at the University of Tehran and head of the Legal Research Department at the Legal Vice-Presidency of Iran.

About the Topic
Nationality, as one of the most significant rights of citizens, is recognized in most legal systems of the world. From the beginning, it was established in most Islamic legal systems that patrilineal lineage confers nationality. But after decades, the approach changed. The bases for granting nationality increased, and matrilineal lineage became one of the legal grounds for nationality as well. In the Iranian legal system, Paragraph 2 of Article 976 (1935) of the Civil Code had provided that patrilineal lineage was the sole legal basis for Iranian nationality. In 2006, the parliament of Iran enacted a new rule that for the first time recognized matrilineal lineage as conferring nationality. In light of different defects and problems, this rule was amended in 2019, with the result that the legality of matrilineal lineage has now been finalized in the Iranian legal system. In addition to addressing the legal literature regarding nationality in Iran, Dr. Soleymanzadeh’s talk will frame the scope of the new Act, addressing its foundations and interpretations as well as related rules and regulations. Finally, future prospects will be considered.