Stop the Executions

Law Regarding Murder

Important terms:

Diyeh (or diyyeh) is ‘blood money’, or the fines levied on behalf of the victim or victim’s family as compensation.

Qesas (officially qesas-e- nafs, or qisas) is the victim’s family’s legal right to retaliation, to demand the execution of the perpetrator.

Under the Iranian Penal Code murder is punishable by qesas-e nafs, or death. Murder by someone with diminished responsibility may be punishable by the payment of diyeh, a form of compensation. In cases of premeditated murder, the family of the victim has the right to ask for their relative's killer to be put to death. The family can also choose to forgive the culprit and accept payment of diyeh (blood money) instead.

Under Article 300 of the Penal Code, the diyeh for the first- or second-degree murder of a Muslim woman is half of that of a murdered Muslim man.

Murder is treated as a private dispute between two civil parties - the state's role is to facilitate the resolution of the dispute through the judicial process. In this sense, the death penalty is regarded as being imposed by the state, whereas qesas is imposed by the family of the victim. As a result, sentences of qesas are not open to pardon or amnesty by the Supreme Leader, whereas most other death sentences can be reversed by the Supreme Leader.

• Article 6(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Amnesty, pardon or commutation of the sentence of death may be granted in all cases.

Under Iran's international obligations, the Iranian authorities remain fully responsible for respecting and protecting the rights of those under its jurisdiction, irrespective of the role that private parties may play in the administration of justice. In the Iranian legal system, there is a distinction between cases where the penalty is hokm-e 'edam ("execution") and qesas-e nafs (“retaliation”), although people sentenced to qesas are often reported in the media to have been sentenced to death. There is no such distinction in international law.

Iranian law allows the death penalty for boys from age 15 and for girls from age 9, considered the age of criminal responsibility.

• Article 37(a) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 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.
• Article 6(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): Sentence of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below eighteen years of age.