Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-6587cd75c8-2cm9h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-24T04:47:14.714Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The Islamic Penal Code of 2013

Traditions and Innovations*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2025

Hadi Enayat
Affiliation:
Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilizations, Aga Khan University
Mirjam Künkler
Affiliation:
Institute for Advanced Legal Study
Get access

Summary

In summer 2013, a new Penal Code came into force in Iran, the first permanent one of its kind, as all previous reforms had been temporary measures. This chapter analyzes some characteristic features of the new 2013 code, particularly with regard to their sources and their effects. While rules in the areas of hadd, qesās, and diyeh are regarded as divine law that cannot be altered or abolished, they have been subject to interpretation, and Iranian Islamic legal scholars often restrict the applicability of hadd, partly by relying on minority opinions in legal justification. Furthermore, the 2013 Penal Code embeds hadd, qesās, and diyeh in other rules of substantive or procedural law in such a way that punishments can be diminished while formally remaining true to Islamic legal traditions. This is done, for example, concerning criminal responsibility of juveniles, and in the law of evidence. The chapter reviews the many adjustments and reforms undertaken in the Islamic Republic’s history to thoroughly Islamize its criminal law.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Rule of Law in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Power, Institutions, and the Limits of Reform
, pp. 45 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abachi, Maryam. The Modern System of Juvenile Justice in Iran, Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft 127, 2015, pp. 822841.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ardebili, Mohammad Ali. Hoquq-e jazā-ye ʿomumi [Criminal Law: General Part], vol. 1, 21st ed. Tehran 2014.Google Scholar
Ghassemi, Ghassem. Criminal Policy in Iran Following the Revolution of 1979, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2013, pp. 122126.Google Scholar
Goldouzian, Iradj. “L’arrêt récent de la cour d’appel iranienne modifiant la jurisprudence discriminatoire entre les musulmans et les minorités religieuses à propos de l‘indemnisation de la victime dans l’infractions contre l’intégrité corporelle,” Revue pénitentiaire et de droit pénal, 2003, pp. 205–208.Google Scholar
Khosravi, Mohammed Reza. Majmuʿeh-ye kāmel-e qavānin va moqarrarāt-e jazāyi, Tehran, 1393/2014.Google Scholar
Shambayati, Houshang. Hoquq-e keifari-ye ekhtesāsi, 3 vols., 7th ed. Tehran 1388/2009, pp. 83–84.Google Scholar
Shams Nāteri, Mohammed Ebrahim, et al. Qānun-e mojāzāt-e eslāmi dar nazm-e hoquqi-ye kununi [The Islamic Penal Code in Modern Legal Order], Tehran 1393 (2014), pp. 257263.Google Scholar
Tellenbach, Silvia. “Zur Re-Islamisierung im Strafrecht in der Islamischen Republik Iran,” Zeitschrift für die gesamte Strafrechtswissenschaft, 101, 1989, pp. 188205.Google Scholar
Tellenbach, Silvia. “The Principle of Legality in the Iranian Constitutional and Criminal Law,” in Arjomand, Said Amir and Brown, Nathan J. (eds.), The Rule of Law, Islam and Constitutional Politics in Egypt and Iran, Albany: SUNY Press, 2013, pp. 101122.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×