Publications

Iran has failed to uphold its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and has not made the necessary changes to its legal system that would allow for the abolition of capital punishment. The amended new Islamic Penal Code (IPC), adopted in 2013, retains the death penalty for almost all of the offenses that were punishable by death under the old IPC. The new IPC includes the obligation for judges to pronounce punishments on the basis of authoritative Islamic sources and fatwa that can carry a mandatory death penalty. In 2022, the number of executions in Iran increased significantly, and Iran ranked second in the world for executions. In Iran, the application of the death penalty is not limited to the most serious crimes. In 2023 alone, courts executed individuals for a variety of charges not entailing an intentional killing, including terror-related crimes, drug offenses, and blasphemy.