Categories of the Death Penalty with Possibility of Improvement in Iran

This is an extract from the 2024 Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran.

Child offender executions

Iran has amassed the highest number of child offender executions in the last 20 years. According to reports by IHRNGO and Amnesty International, between 1999 and 2022, Iranian authorities implemented 105 (77%) of at least 136 juvenile executions worldwide. Iran is also the only country to carry out the execution of child offenders every single year for the last 10 years. Both Iranian civil society and the international community are highly sensitive to this issue. Due to sustained international pressure between 2007 and 2013, Iranian authorities introduced some changes to the the IPC regarding the death penalty for child offenders. However, these changes did not lead to a decrease in the number of executions. Stronger, co-ordinated pressure by the international community can lead to the end of child offender executions in Iran. Islamic Republic authorities refer to Islamic jurisprudence, which states that the age of “maturity” and thus the age of criminal responsibility to be 9 lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for boys. This is despite the fact that 18 is already used as the age for a person to be considered to have reached “maturity” in other circumstances. For instance, passports are issued to citizens above 18 upon presentation of their birth certificate and national ID card. But children below 18 and unmarried women above 18 must obtain the permission of their father or closest male relative, and married women must present their husband’s permission in order to be issued with a passport. Changing the age of criminal responsibility to 18 would therefore not represent a complex deviation from Islamic law.

Public executions

Iran is one of the very few countries that still carries out public executions. The issue has been raised repeatedly by the international community. There has also been debate amongst Iranian civil society and even in the Iranian Parliament on the topic.[1] Several senior Iranian clerics (ayatollahs) have even stated that implementing punishments in public is not a religious necessity and should not be carried out if the negative side effects outweigh the benefits.[2] One of the biggest negative side effects is international condemnation. Although the government (led by the president) does not have the authority to issue and implement death sentences according to the Iranian Constitution, public executions seem to be the exception to this rule. At the local level, the governor representing the government has the power to decide whether an execution should be carried out in public or not.[3]As the government is the counterpart of Iran’s dialogue partners, it is easier to exert pressure on them to stop the practice of public executions. Hence, stopping this practice demands focused and sustained pressure from the international community. Moreover, the pause in the implementation of public executions caused by COVID-19 restrictions lowered the public’s tolerance of public executions. Since 2022, the authorities have gradually resumed public executions, with two in 2022, seven in 2023 and four in 2024. International pressure, especially from countries with closer diplomatic dialogue with the Islamic Republic, can raise the political cost of public executions.

Qisas

Unlike public executions, qisas for murder is specified by Sharia law, and as long as the Penal Code is based on Sharia, Iranian authorities consider its removal a red line that cannot be crossed. They claim qisas to be a private right of the victim’s family which they cannot deny or control. According to the IPC, murder is punishable by qisas, allowing the victim’s family to demand death as retribution. However, they can also demand blood money (diya) instead, or can simply grant forgiveness. Although opposing qisas is considered a serious crime according to Iranian law, promoting forgiveness is regarded as a good deed according to Islam. This offers several possibilities in reducing the number of qisas executions, which is the second highest execution category. A brief description of actions which might contribute to reducing the number of such executions are presented below.

- Distinction between murder and manslaughter: Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas regardless of intent (mens rea) or circumstances, due to a lack of grading in law. Many are executed each year for murders committed unintentionally or in self-defence. Making this distinction would reduce the number of executions.

- Long prison terms for murder convicts forgiven by the plaintiff: One of the arguments used by those defending qisas death sentences is that once forgiven (by paying diya for instance), someone who has committed a serious crime and who could be dangerous will be released into society after a short prison term. This notion makes the plaintiff hesitate in choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas. This issue can be resolved by the introduction of a compulsory minimum prison term for all murder convicts who have been forgiven by the plaintiff. The prison term should be long enough so that the plaintiff feels a sense of justice that the convict is being punished.

- One rate for diya and state support to cover if necessary: The minimum rate of diya is set by the authorities. However, because there are no caps on diya amounts, the victim’s family can demand a sum much higher than the minimum rate. Besides adding to the discriminatory nature of qisas (the poor are executed while the rich can afford to pay their way out), it also makes it difficult for the state to at least partially subsidise diya.

- Promoting forgiveness through civil society: In the past few years, an increasing number of civil society groups have been working to promote forgiveness instead of qisas. Disturbingly, the Imam Ali Popular Student Relief Society (IAPSRS) which was at the forefront of the forgiveness movement,[4] particularly for juvenile offenders, was disbanded as a result of a motion by the Ministry of Interior. Both the Iranian authorities and the international community must support, not hinder, efforts and groups advocating for forgiveness instead of qisas.

[1] https://www.radiofarda.com/a/iran-execution-whipping-law/29314017.html

[2] https ://www .tabnak .ir /fa /news /380428/فتوای -برخی -مراجع -درباره -اجرای -حدود -در -ملأ -عام