Judicial System of Iran - Islamic Republic - Law - Qesas

Qesas

Qesas (the law of retaliation/retribution) is a sharia class of crime involving personal injury. It is similar to a civil law tort. If a person has intentionally murdered or maimed another person, they victim (or victim's family) is entitled to retribution (a eye for an eye in the case of personal injury or a life for a life in the case of murder). However, the victim (victim's family) can forgive the perpetrator and have the punishment not carried out. If so, the perpetrator must pay blood money (diyya)to compensate for the injury/death.

If the death was intentional murder (qatl-e-amnd) or intentional injury (zarb-jahr amnd), qesas can be applied. If the death was unintentional (manslaughter)(qatl-e-na-amd) or unintentional injury (zarb-jahr na-amnd), qesas cannot apply, but the person can receive up to 3 years in prison in order to pay the money. If an unborn child was killed, while considered intentional murder, the maximum punishment is 1–3 years in prison.

If the death/injury was unintentional, the perpetrator must pay diyya, he/she cannot receive qesas. The judge only convicts the perpetrator, he has no say in whether qesas will be applied or not (although he can try to influence the decision). It cannot be overturned upon appeal either unless the person is found not guilty on appeal. The age qesas is applied is 15 years of age, which has resulted in some controversy due to juvenile executions (that the authorities are powerless to stop). In 2012, the authorities said that qesas would not be applied anymore for youths under 18 years of age, except in rare cases. However, Iran uses the lunar Islamic calendar to determine criminal age, meaning some "eighteen-year olds" would actually still be seventeen years old.

If forgiven, the intentional murderer/injurer can also get a discretionary civil law sentences as well (such as 10 years imprisonment on a murder charge), if there were aggravating circumstances. All murderers must serve a minimum of 2–3 years in prison. Unintentional murderers cannot receive any additional punishment unless they also committed another crime, such as drinking. However, as a general rule, murder is considered to be more of a tort rather than an offense against the state.

Qesas is considered by Islamic scholars to be extremely fair and just. For example, in western countries, the family of the victim has no say in the punishment that the perpetrator receives, yet in Islamic law, a murderer could be executed or forgiven depending upon the wishes of the family. In intentional qesas cases, the sentence would sometimes be delayed for 5 years in order to increase the chances of a settlement, and allow the criminal to amass the blood money.

Qesas cannot be applied in cases of self-defense, manslaughter, where the case lacks the proof requirements, on minors (age 15 for boys, 9 for girls prior to 2012, after 2012 aged 18 in most cases), on insane people, a person who murdered a spouse and/or their lover caught in the act of adultery, a father who murders his children, etc. Depending on the crime, they would be punished through a tazir discretionary sentence, ranging from no prison to 2 years in prison to life imprisonment. Sometimes the death penalty can be used if the person has been found guilty of "spreading corruption on the earth" or "moharebeh". Crimes of passion are not recognized as a legitimate defense, with the exception of the spouse caught in adultery. Self defense and insanity is also narrowly defined. With the exception of manslaughter, and where proof requirements are lacking, none need to pay diyyeh either. If a murderer was working on the orders of another and he/she can prove it, they will receive a tazir punishment (imprisonment, fines and/or whipping, sometimes even death), while the person(s) who ordered the killing will suffer qesas/diyyeh.

One secular critic claimed the Qesas (Qisas) Law of Iran as discriminating against women, non-Muslims, and the poor; as reviving horrific physical punishments; and assuming parts of the human body can be converted into money. Qesas punishments "threatens to create an army of handicapped victims. And it 'paves the way for judicial torture' by permitting the use of confessions."

A qesas case that was said to have brought attention following publicity by Amnesty International, was a 2011 sentence of blinding by an Iranian court against a man who had blinded a woman in Tehran. In 2004, Majid Movahedi poured several liters of sulphric acid on the face of Ameneh Bahrami, blinding and severely disfiguring her, after she had spurned his proposals of marriage. Movahedi was tried in 2008 and found guilty, and for his sentence arrangements were made for Bahrami to inject "twenty drops of acid" into each of Movahedi's eyes while Movahedi was under anesthesia in a Tehran hospital. After appeals the punishment was set to be carried out on 14 May 2011, but has been postponed, and later Bahrami forgave Movahedi, thus sparing him the punishment.