With the advancement of communication technologies, the use of virtual hearings has gradually attained a significant position in the settlement of international disputes. Employing a descriptive–analytical methodology grounded in library-based research, this article examines the status of the “right to a virtual hearing” in international law and within the Iranian legal system. It seeks to address the following questions: What role does physical attendance play within the procedural frameworks of international and domestic judicial bodies? Has in-person adjudication been recognized as an autonomous right, and to what extent has such a requirement been observed in practice?
The principal finding of this study is that in neither the constituent instruments and procedural rules of international judicial bodies nor the Constitution and ordinary legislation of Iran is “in-person adjudication” recognized as an independent and absolute right. In international law, the normative focus lies on the substantive components of a fair hearing, while physical presence constitutes only one possible modality through which those components may be realized. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with subsequent procedural reforms in international courts and tribunals, demonstrated that fully virtual or hybrid hearings are, provided that fair-trial guarantees are respected, entirely lawful and broadly accepted. To date, no meaningful objection alleging a violation of the right to a fair hearing has been raised solely on the basis of the non-physical format of proceedings.