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3 results

  • Letting Live in Revolutionary Iran

  • Milad Odabaei
  • Journal:
    Iranian Studies / Volume 55 / Issue 1 / January 2022
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    16 March 2022, pp. 251-256
    Print publication:
    January 2022

  • The criminal laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran are organized around the right of the victim. In cases of murder and other intentional injuries, the judiciary recognizes the victim's next of kin or the victim as a private plaintiff with the right to retribution (qisas). The injured party confronts the perpetrator in court and decides whether to demand retaliation or forgo it in lieu of a monetary compensation (diya). If they choose qisas, they are legally bound to witness the punishment. In cases of forbearance, the maximum sentence that the state can levy for murder is three to ten years. While the rates of capital punishment in Iran continue to be among the highest in the world, the majority of murder cases culminate in forgiveness. Why would an aggrieved party forgive when the law gives them the right to retribution?