Legislative Framework of Death Penalty in Iran

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

International treaties

The Islamic Republic of Iran has ratified three international human rights treaties that apply to the death penalty: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in 1975, the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1994, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in 2009.

Other applicable treaties which the Islamic Republic of Iran has neither signed nor ratified include: the International Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, aimed at the abolition of the death penalty and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Since 2007, a resolution for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty has been put to a vote at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) every two years. Through this text, always adopted by a large majority of States, the UN reaffirms that the application of the death penalty violates human dignity and “calls upon all States that still maintain it to establish a moratorium on executions”. As the resolution is not legally binding, it cannot prevent a State from performing an execution or sanction that State. However, a firm call from the UN’s most senior political body carries considerable moral weight and is a precious asset in creating a world without the death penalty.

Since the introduction of the resolution in 2007, the number of voters supporting the resolution has steadily increased to a new record high of 130 in 2024[1] However, Iran has been voting against the Resolution since 2007. In December 2024, Iran voted against the Resolution once again.

Limitation of the death penalty to the most serious crimes

Article 6 of the ICCPR sets out the inherent right to life and emphasises that the death penalty may only be applied for “the most serious crimes.” Article 6(§2) of the ICCPR states: “In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the commission of the crime and not contrary to the provisions of the present Covenant and to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This penalty can only be carried out pursuant to a final judgement rendered by a competent court.”

In its General Comment on Article 6 of the ICCPR, the United Nations Human Rights Committee stated that “The term ‘the most serious crimes’ must be read restrictively and appertain only to crimes of extreme gravity, involving intentional killing. Crimes not resulting directly and intentionally in death, such as attempted murder, corruption and other economic and political crimes, armed robbery, piracy, abduction, drug and sexual offences, although serious in nature, can never serve as the basis, within the framework of Article 6, for the imposition of the death penalty. In the same vein, a limited degree of involvement or of complicity in the commission of even the most serious crimes, such as providing the physical means for the commission of murder, cannot justify the imposition of the death penalty. States parties are under an obligation to review their criminal laws so as to ensure that the death penalty is not imposed for crimes which do not qualify as the most serious crimes. They should also revoke death sentences issued for crimes not qualifying as the most serious crimes and pursue the necessary legal procedures to resentence those convicted for such crimes.”[2]

In a yearly supplement to his quinquennial report on capital punishment, the UN Secretary General reaffirmed this position: “States parties to the Covenant that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose it for the ‘most serious crimes’. The Human Rights Committee has expressed the view that this means crimes of particular gravity involving intentional killing. States should remove from national laws any application of the death penalty to crimes not involving intentional killing, such as drug-related offences or terrorism-related crimes not involving intentional killing. The death penalty should especially not be imposed as a sanction for forms of non-violent conduct such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations.”[3]

Although Iran did not formulate any reservation upon ratification of the ICCPR, the death penalty is still imposed for crimes that do not meet the threshold of “the most serious crimes”, in contradiction to the Addendum submitted by Iran following the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2020: “It should be noted that the deprivation of life has been considered as a punishment only for the most serious crimes in accordance with Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.”[4]

While it is fundamental to hold perpetrators of crimes such as rape accountable, the death penalty cannot be the answer. This was underlined by former UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet: “The main argument being made for the death penalty is for it to deter rape – but in fact there is no evidence that the death penalty deters crime more than other forms of punishment. Evidence shows that the certainty of punishment, rather than its severity, deters crime. In most countries around the world, the key problem is that victims of sexual violence do not have access to justice in the first place – whether due to stigma, fear of reprisals, entrenched gender stereotypes and power imbalances, lack of police and judicial training, laws that condone or excuse certain types of sexual violence or the lack of protection for victims.”[5] This is the case in Iran, where victims of sexual violence do not have access to justice.

Prohibition on the death penalty applied as a sanction against a conduct the very criminalisation of which violates the ICCPR

The UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) also stated that “Under no circumstances can the death penalty ever be applied as a sanction against conduct whose very criminalization violates the Covenant, including adultery, homosexuality, apostasy, establishing political opposition groups, or offending a head of state. States parties that retain the death penalty for such offences commit a violation of their obligations under Article 6 read alone and in conjunction with Article 2, paragraph 2 of the Covenant, as well as of other provisions of the Covenant.”[6]

In Iran, several provisions of national law are clearly in contradiction with Iran’s international obligation under international human rights law (see below).

Prohibition of torture including several methods of execution

Article 7 of the ICCPR bans “[t]orture and cruel, degrading and inhumane punishments.”

The HRC has underlined that State parties that have not abolished the death penalty must respect Article 7 of the ICCPR, which prohibits certain methods of execution, including public executions. The HRC recalled that “criminal convictions resulting in the death penalty that are based on information procured by torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of interrogated persons would violate articles 7 and 14(3)(g) of the Covenant, as well as article 6.”[7] Article 14 provides fair trial and due process and specifically mentions the importance of an impartial judicial system, access to a lawyer and a fair trial, and not compelling individuals to testify against themselves or to confess guilt.

In Iran, in 2024, people were tortured and forced to confess. Criminal convictions are very regularly based on information extracted under torture. Methods of execution include hanging in public.

Prohibition on the death penalty for children and pregnant women[8]

Article 6(5) of ICCPR states: “Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age and shall not be carried out on pregnant women.”

Article 37(a) of the CRC states: “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Neither capital punishment nor life imprisonment without possibility of release shall be imposed for offences committed by persons below eighteen years of age.”

However, upon ratification, Iran formulated the following reservation: “If the text of the Convention is or becomes incompatible with the domestic laws and Islamic standards at any time or in any case, the Government of the Islamic Republic shall not abide by it.”

In 2024, at least one juvenile offender was executed. Iran also executed at least 31 women, the highest number of women since 2008.

Prohibition on the death penalty against persons with mental disabilities

In a Resolution adopted by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (the predecessor of the Human Rights Council), States were urged “not to impose the death penalty on a person suffering from any form of mental disorder or to execute any such person.”[9]

Iranian law

Chapter III of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran contains provisions related to the rights of the people. Article 22 states: “The dignity, life, property, rights, domicile, and occupations of people may not be violated, unless sanctioned by law.”

Codified laws relating to the death penalty can be found in the 2013 Islamic Penal Code (IPC), as well as the Anti-Narcotics Law and its 2017 Amendment.[10] While murder, drug possession and trafficking, rape/sexual assault, moharebeh, efsad-fil-arz andbaghy are the most common charges resulting in the death penalty in Iran, the IPC sanctions the death penalty for a wide range of offences, the number of which is amongst the highest in the world.

In addition, there are uncodified laws relating to the death penalty. Article 220 of the IPC states that Article 167 of the Constitution can be invoked by the judge to pronounce hudud punishments that the law has not addressed: “The judge is bound to endeavour to judge each case on the basis of the codified law.” In the absence of such laws, the judge must deliver his judgement on the basis of authoritative Islamic sources and authentic fatwa that can carry the mandatory death penalty. The judge cannot refrain from admitting and examining cases and delivering his judgement based on the lack or deficiency of the law in the matter, or its brevity or contradictory nature.

It is important to note that the majority of charges punishable by death in the Islamic Republic cannot be considered as “the most serious crimes” and do not meet the aforementioned ICCPR standards.

Islamic Penal Code and capital offences

The current Islamic Penal Code (IPC) came into force in 2013. Section Two sets out four types of punishments, three of which are applicable to the death penalty: hadd, qisas and ta’zir.

Hadd (pl. hudud): fixed punishments for which Sharia or Islamic law has determined the measure, degree and method. They can be divided into three subcategories:

- Sexual offences: incest, rape, zena (adultery), lavat (sodomy or consensual homosexual penetrative sex), tafkhiz (intercrural sex) where the “active party” is non-Muslim and the “passive party” is Muslim.

- Offences against the State and religion: efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth), moharebeh (enmity against God), baghy (armed rebellion), sabol-nabi (insulting the prophet) and ertedad (apostasy).

- Repeat offences on the fourth occasion: theft, adultery, sodomy, mosahegheh (lesbian sex), intercrural sex, pimping, insulting the prophet, alcohol consumption, qadf (false accusation of sodomy or adultery), moharebeh, efsad-fil-arz and baghy.

Qisas: retribution-in-kind for “intentional murder”, which due to a lack of grading and disregard for intent or circumstances, includes both intentional and unintentional killings.

Ta’zir: punishment for offences at the discretion of the judge. This applies to drug-related charges for the purpose of this report.

Hadd

Sexual offences

Incest, sex between a non-Muslim man and a Muslim woman and rape

According to Article 224 of the IPC: “A death sentence shall be imposed on the male party in cases of incest, fornication with their stepmother, fornication of a non-Muslim man with a Muslim woman and fornication by force or reluctance. The punishment for the female party shall be decided by other provisions concerning fornication.”

Adultery and extramarital sex

Article 221 of the IPC defines zena as extramarital sex (defined as vaginal and anal sex between a man and a woman in Note 1 to the Article). Zena is punishable by death in the following cases: zena with a mahram blood relative, zena with the wife of a father (stepmother), zena between a non-Muslim man and a Muslim woman, rape or force (Article 224). Article 225 sets the punishment for zenaye mohseneh (adultery) for both men and women as stoning but provides the courts with the option to impose the death sentence by alternative means “if it is not possible to perform stoning” upon the approval from the Head of Judiciary.

Same-sex relations

Lavat

Article 233 of the IPC defines lavat (sodomy) as male sexual intercourse and Article 234 sets out its punishments. In male homosexual relations, the law distinguishes between what it describes as the “active party” and “passive party.” The death penalty is imposed on the “active party” if he is married or it is rape, but the “passive party” receives the death penalty regardless of their marital status. According to Note 1 to Article 234, a non-Muslim “active party” in a sexual act with a Muslim party shall also receive the death penalty.

Tafkhiz

Tafkhiz (intercrural/thigh sex) is defined in Article 235 and according to Article 236, the punishment for both parties is 100 lashes. However, the Note to the Article stipulates that the “active party” shall receive the death penalty if he is non-Muslim and the “passive party” is Muslim.

Mosahegheh

Defined in Article 238, in cases of mosahegheh (lesbian sex), no distinction is made in punishments set for the “active” or “passive” parties, their religion, marital status or consent (Article 240). Article 239 sets out the punishment for mosahegheh as 100 lashes. However, as it is a hadd crime, it is punishable by death on the fourth occasion if “offenders” are sentenced and receive the lashing punishment on the first three occasions. This has not been specifically stated in law but can be inferred from the provisions of Article 136 of the IPC on “Repeat Offences’’ (see below).

In June 2019, when asked by a journalist why homosexuals are executed based on their sexual orientation, then Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded: “Our society has moral principles. And we live according to these principles. These are moral principles concerning the behaviour of people in general. And that means that the law is respected, and the law is obeyed.” According to some human rights activists, many people have been executed based on charges of homosexuality since the 1979 revolution.[11]

Repeat offences

Article 136 stipulates that repeat offenders who commit an offence punishable by hadd, and who are punished on the first three occasions, shall be sentenced to death on the fourth occasion without providing a complete list of hudud offences. Article 278 sanctions the death penalty for theft on the fourth occasion and Articles 220-288 define hudud offences as: incest and adultery, lavat, tafkhiz, mosahegheh, pimping, sabol-nabi, theft, alcohol consumption, qadf (false accusations of lavat or adultery), moharebeh, efsad-fil-arz and baghy.

Offences against the State and religion

Moharebeh

Article 279 of the IPC defines moharebeh (enmity against God) as: “drawing a weapon on the life, property or honour of the public or causing them terror, in a way that creates an environment of insecurity.” When a person draws a weapon on one or several specific individuals with personal motives, but their action does not have a public element, and also a person who draws a weapon on the public but does not create an atmosphere of insecurity due to their incompetence, they shall not be considered a mohareb (person who commits moharebeh).

Article 281 of the IPC stipulates that “bandits, robbers and smugglers who resort to arms and disrupt the security of the public and roads, shall be considered mohareb.”

Article 282 of the IPC sanctions the death penalty in cases of moharebeh. However, power is granted to judges to impose the alternative punishments of crucifixion, amputation of the right hand and left foot, or domestic exile away from the defendant’s hometown.

Under the previous IPC, which was in force until 2013, the charge of moharebeh was frequently used against political dissidents and people with connections to opposition groups abroad, regardless of whether they had personally used violence. The current IPC provides for their punishment under efsad-fil-arz and baghy.

Efsad-fil-arz

Article 286 of the IPC defines efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) as a crime committed by a person who, “on an extensive level against the physical integrity of others, domestic or external security, spreads lies, disrupts the national economic system, undertakes arson and destruction, disseminates poisonous, microbiological and dangerous substances, establishes corruption and prostitution centres or assists in establishing them.”

However, this article does not provide concrete definitions for the term “crime” and the scope of “extensive” for its purpose, giving judges more power to interpret the law at their own discretion.

Baghy

Article 287 of the IPC defines members of any group that stage armed rebellion against the Islamic Republic of Iran as “baghy”(one who carries out baghy or armed rebellion), and that its members shall be sentenced to death on charges of baghy should they have used weapons. Due to its definition, baghy charges are predominantly used against members of dissident groups.

Other religious “offences”

Article 262 of the IPC sanctions the death penalty for cursing the Prophet of Islam or any of the other great prophets (blasphemy), and for accusing the infallible imams and the Prophet Mohammad’s daughter, Fatima Zahra, of sodomy or adultery. Apostasy, sorcery, witchcraft and other such issues have not been explicitly addressed in the current IPC, although there is a reference to apostasy in Article 26. Under sharia law, the punishment for apostasy is death, which a judge can impose by invoking Article 167 of the Constitution.

Qisas

Qisas means retribution-in-kind for a physical harm caused, which includes both injuries and death (the concept of “an eye for an eye”).[12] A qisas death sentence takes away the offender’s life in retribution for having committed murder. However, the law provides immunity from qisas for the following individuals:

- The father and paternal grandfather of the victim (Article 301)

- A man who kills his wife and/or her lover in the act of adultery (Article 302)

- Muslims, followers of recognised religions, and “protected persons” who kill followers of unrecognised religions or “unprotected persons” (Article 310)

- Killing a person who has committed a hadd offence punishable by death (Article 302)

- Killing a rapist (Article 302)

The law indirectly encourages arbitrary killings by private individuals. Experts believe, for instance, that Articles 301 and 302 might be contributing to the increased number of honour killings in Iran. In practice, men who murder their wives are exempted from qisas more than vice versa. In 2023, a man who had murdered his wife on suspicion of having an affair based on text messages, was granted immunity from qisas after presenting the evidence to a court in Tehran.[13] The law also discriminates against followers of “unrecognised” religions. Article 301 states: “Qisas shall be established […] if the victim is sane and has the same religion as the culprit. Note: If the victim is Muslim, the non-Muslim status of the culprit shall not prevent qisas.” This includes in particular members of the Baha’i faith, which is not recognised as a religion according to Iranian law. If a Baha’i is murdered, the family does not receive diya (blood money), and the offender is exempted from qisas. In 2013, there were two reported Baha’i murder cases. On 23 April 2013, Saeedollah Aqdasi was murdered in his house in Miandoab (Northwestern Iran) and Ataollah Rezvani was shot in Bandar Abbas (Southern Iran) on 24 August 2013. In both cases, there was never any investigation and nobody was ever held accountable for their murders.

Anti-Narcotics Law

Following the 1979 revolution, the “Legal Bill to Intensify Punishments for Perpetrators of Drug Crimes and Preventive and Medical Measures” was passed into law on 9 June 1980. For the first time, the death penalty was introduced for a range of drug-related offences, including being in possession of or carrying as little as 5 grams, growing, producing, selling, attempted-sale and providing the premises for use of narcotics.[14] An Amendment passed on 25 October 1988 provided a more detailed breakdown of offences for each drug type and its Article 9 introduced public execution in the defendant’s place of residence if their offences amounted to efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth).[15] Subsequent Amendments were added in 1997 and 2010 which were aimed at counteracting Iran’s growing drug problem by expanding the scope of the law and introducing harsher sentences. The 2010 Amendment introduced the death penalty for the possession of as little as 30 grams of heroin and included new categories of drugs. Altogether, the Anti-Narcotics Law, including the 1997 and 2010 Amendments, imposed the death penalty for 17 drug-related offences, including: a fourth conviction for offences in several instances; planting opium poppies, coca plants or cannabis seeds with the intent to produce drugs; smuggling more than 5 kilograms of opium or cannabis into Iran; buying, possessing, carrying or hiding more than 5 kilograms of opium and the other aforementioned drugs (punishable upon a third conviction); smuggling into Iran, dealing, producing, distributing and exporting more than 30 grams of heroin, morphine, cocaine or their derivatives.

The 2017 Amendment introduced a mechanism to limit the use of the death penalty and commute the sentences of those on death row to life imprisonment. The Amendment increased the minimum amounts of illegal drugs that would subject convicted producers and distributors to a death sentence, raising the level of synthetic substances, such as heroin, cocaine and amphetamines, from 30 grams to 2 kilograms and that of natural substances, such as opium and cannabis, from 5 kilograms to 50 kilograms (Article 45(d)). The punishment for those already sentenced to death or life imprisonment for drug-related offences would be commuted to a maximum of 30 years’ imprisonment and a fine. It restricted the death penalty for those convicted of carrying (not only using) weapons, acting as the ringleader, providing financial support, or using minors below the age of 18 or the mentally ill in a drug crime; and to those previously sentenced to death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for more than 15 years for related crimes. A complete analysis of the 2017 Amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Law is available in the 2017 Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran.[16]

The 2017 Amendment created hope that it would eventually lead to a complete halt in drug-related executions. And while it did lead to a decline in male drug executions and a complete drop in female executions until 2021, the outcome was not guaranteed. Since 2021, the 2017 Amendment has been reversed in practice, with drug-related executions rising from an average of 26 per year between 2018-2020 to at least 503 in 2024.

[1] ECPM, Resolution for a universal moratorium on the use of the death penalty, Analysis of the Vote in UNGA Plenary Meeting, December 2024, https://www.ecpm.org/app/uploads/2024/12/Vote-pleniere-ENG.pdf

[2] UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 36, op. cit., para. 35.

[3] Human Rights Council, Capital punishment and the implementation of the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, Yearly supplement of the Secretary-General to his quinquennial report on capital punishment, 28 August 2019, A/HRC/42/28, https://docs.un.org/A/HRC/42/28, para. 46.

[4] Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, Islamic Republic of Iran, Addendum, Views on conclusions and/or recommendations, voluntary commitments and replies presented by the State under review, 20 February 2020, A/HRC/43/12/Add., https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/43/12/Add.1

[5] UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Press Statement, Rape is a monstrous crime, perpetrators must be held accountable – but death penalty and torture are not the answers – Bachelet, 15 October 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2020/10/rape-monstrous-crime-perpetrators-must-be-held-accountable-death-penalty-and

[6] UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 36, op. cit., para. 36.

[7] Ibid., para. 54.

[8] Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, Approved by Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 1984, https://www.unodc.org/pdf/criminal_justice/Safeguards_Guaranteeing_Protection_of_the_Rights_of_those_Facing_the_Death_Penalty.pdf

[9] UN Commission on Human Rights, The Question of the Death Penalty, 25 April 2003, E/CN.4/RES/2003/67, 4(g).

[10] ECPM, IHRNGO, The death penalty in law and in practice in Iran (2024), https://www.ecpm.org/app/uploads/2024/10/Country-factsheet-Iran-2024.pdf&sa=D&source=docs&ust=1737993520374474&usg=AOvVaw16o9zESne1wLKWBrd2pKKS

[11] See, for example, Monash University, State-Sanctioned Killing of Sexual Minorities: Looking Beyond the Death Penalty, 4 March 2021, https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/report/State-Sanctioned_Killing_of_Sexual_Minorities_Looking_Beyond_the_Death_Penalty/14069318

[12] For example, protester Mehdi Mousavian was sentenced to be blinded for allegedly throwing a stone that blinded a police officer. See IHRNGO, IHRNGO Calls for International Action to Stop Eye for an Eye Sentence of Protester Mehdi Mousavian, 22 January 2024, https://iranhr.net/en/articles/6519/

[13] https ://www .hamshahrionline .ir /news /797753/مرد -همسرکش -از -قصاص -رهایی -یافت -خون -زنم -حلال -بود -ارائه -مستندات