Iran protests the death penalty

Nearly 23 years have passed since the first public protest took place in Iran. The university student movement protest at Tehran university, also known as the “Kuye Daneshgah” movement, was the first political activity against Iran’s regime. This incident occurred after the government’s serial killings were divulged by leftist reporters. Many students and reportest were arrested by IRGC officers during and after these protests and faced the death penalty. Unofficial reports indicate that nearly 100 protestors were hanged due to these protests, and more than 200 are still unfound. But how do these sentences pass in court? Is it based on Sharia, or are there some Criminal  Laws basis for these sentences? Today we will closely analyze the death penalty for protesting in Iran and look at it from different perspectives.

Sharia and Fiqh laws in Iran

Iran’s monetary and criminal laws are consistent with two Islamic rules: Sharia and Fiqh. Sharia is the rule in most Arabian countries, based on the Quran and the Prophet’s way of living. However, since Iran is a Shia country, two different Islamic laws are considered, the Prophet’s family quotes and Mullha’s deduction from Islam. All the laws should be consistent with these four sources; if a sinful legal article is passed, the supreme leader can veto the law. As you may see in Iran, constitutional law has no place, and it is solely some Islamic laws that can be changed by how a judge interprets the Quran.

The death penalty in Islam

One of the most controversial rules in Islam is the death penalty which has been widespread throughout history. In some cases, the Prophet indicated that the Islamic state’s judge or ruler could pass the death penalty. The most common sins are homosexuality, infidelity for women, having sex with married women, killing innocent people, and denying God. As you might see there, in Prophet’s law and order, there is no punishment for public protest. In some historical cases, the fourth Islamic ruler, HZ. Ali only punished those who forced war upon him and forgave simple protestors.

 The history of the death penalty in the Islamic Republic of Iran

When the Islamic republic overthrew the Pahlavi dynasty in 1978, they hanged every protestor and leftist party member from the very beginning. The first person who tasted the bitter taste of these rules was Mohamad Reza Pahlavi’s servant. The IRGC’s current general, Salami, sentenced her to death and brutally burnt her alive. In the first year of the Islamic republic, nearly all the high-ranked army officers were sentenced to death. Reports show more than ten thousand innocent people were sentenced to death by extremists in Iran. Among the hanged people were many men under 18 and pregnant women.

Khomeini ordered Ebrahim Reisi, the current president of Iran, and Sadegh Khalkhali to pass the orders without any doubt. Marxist politicians, leftist party members, nationalists, and even poets were among those who were hanged during the first two years of the Islamic revolution. Since the media were not as powerful as today, the government silenced those incidents, and even the UN couldn’t investigate them.

Iran student protests, July 1999

The first violent public protest after the Islamic revolution occurred in July 1999 when conservatives shut down a local and reformist newspaper known as Salam. After closing the newspaper and arresting its chief editor, a public demonstration was held in which a man was killed. Students gathered together on the night of the incident at the dormitory and chanted against the local government. According to officials at this incident, three students were murdered, and nearly 200 of them disappeared. After that day, more than 1400 men and women were among detainees, and three students got death sentences, according to Human Rights Watch reports. This incident profoundly influenced the human rights activists in Iran, resulting in no public protest in Iran for nearly ten years.

Iranian Green Movement and the 2009 protest

Persian Awakening, also called the Iranian Green Movement, was the second Iranian protest after the presidential election of 2009. The most controversial presidential election in modern Iran, which involved three main parties, continued with six months of street protests. The primary demand of protestors was to remove Mahmoud Ahamadinezhad from office and hold the election.

In the aftermath of this presidential election, more than three million people protested in the streets of Tehran. Until now, the silent demonstration of June 17th was the most attended protest in the Middle East’s political incidents. Even though the protests started as peaceful demonstrations, they got violent in the following days. During the six months of street protests, many people died, and more than five thousand activists were arrested. Due to the media blackout of those days, there is no concrete number of the dead; however, it is estimated more than three hundred people were killed. After six months of tension between conservatives and reformists, death sentences surfaced, and more than 50 activists were hanged during those days.

Woman, life, freedom

 Following the incident of Mahsa Amini’s death, once again, Iran’s streets got unstable. People protested and chanted death to the supreme leader all over the country. Their main motto was Woman, life, freedom. They tried to overthrow the Islamic revolution. as of December 4th, 2022, at least 500 people, including 62 minors, have been killed. It is speculated that more than 200 people will also be hanged. Iran’s Human Rights are concerned that if the protest settles down, the death penalties will resurface again, and many people will die.

Iran protests the death penalty

The real question here is that since there are no Islamic rules for the death penalty for protestors, how does the Iranian government hang them? In most cases, protestors are accused of spying for USA and Israel. In most Islamic countries, the sentence for spying is death. Iran, the most extremist Islamic state, is the pioneer of this rule and efficiently executes this punishment; it has banned all international media.

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Why the Iranian protest?