House of Representatives Approves First Reading of Bill on "Enjoining Doing Right and Forbidding Doing Wrong" (Jul. 01, 2010) by Gholam Vafai

The trend in Iranian legislation under the current government is to return to Quranic roots and interpret religious norms through legislation. Thus, for example, according to ...

Topic: Administrative law
Jurisdiction: Iran

Council of Ministers Members to Be Fined If Late to Meetings (Jun. 21, 2010) by Gholam Vafai

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has issued an order that the members of his Council of Ministers must be fined 1,000 tomans (about US$1) for every ...

Topic: Government employees
Jurisdiction: Iran

Role of Mahr in Two Cases (Jun. 21, 2010) by Gholam Vafai

Under Islamic law, one of the requirements of a marriage contract is that the man has to make a gift of money or property to the ...

Topic: Family
Jurisdiction: Iran

Two Women Imprisoned on Charges of Apostasy Freed (Jun. 11, 2010) by Gholam Vafai

It was reported on May 22, 2010, that two Iranian women, 31-year-old Marziah Amiri and 28-year-old Maryam Rustam-poor, who had spent 14 months in Evin prison ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Women Free on Bail After National Security Charges Dropped (Jan. 20, 2010) by Gholam Vafai

Two women were arrested in Tehran, Iran, on March 5, 2009, on charges of acting against the national security of the country. Marziah Amirizadeh, who was ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

American-Iranian Woman Pardons Youth Accused of Killing Her Sister (Dec. 22, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

A news item reported in November 2009 offers a vivid illustration of the workings of the Iranian criminal justice system. Facing a murder charge in a ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Criticism of Use of Death Penalty (Nov. 24, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

An Iranian boy, Behnoud Shojaie, was executed in Iran on October 11, 2009, after being convicted of the murder of another boy in a street fight; ...

Topic: Capital punishment
Jurisdiction: Iran

$20 Million Allocated to Fight U.S. Media (Nov. 18, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

On August 22, 2009, the House of Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran approved by a majority vote a "top priority" bill on "exposing the ...

Topic: Press
Jurisdiction: Iran

Foreign Banks Encouraged to Open Branches (Sep. 18, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Council of Ministers approved new regulations to encourage foreign banks to do business in Iran. The new regulations, organized in four parts and totaling 13 ...

Topic: Banks and financial institutions
Jurisdiction: Iran

Hand Chopped Off of Man Convicted of Theft (Sep. 11, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

In May 2009, the Islamic Sharia court of Kismayo district of Somalia confirmed that Mohamed Omar Ismail had been found guilty of stealing goods with an ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Somalia

New Regulations on Lawyers Suspended After Bar Associations Object (Sep. 10, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Bar Associations of Tehran and of all provincial cities in Iran unanimously and strenuously objected to new regulations recently recommended by the Judiciary. These regulations ...

Topic: Lawyers
Jurisdiction: Iran

Amendment to New Family Law Makes Bigamy Rare (Aug. 31, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

On September 8, 2008, the Judicial Committee of the Iranian Parliament's House of Representatives voted to delete two articles from the Family Protection Bill, including one ...

Topic: Family
Jurisdiction: Iran

Payment Can Save a Murderer from Execution (Aug. 31, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

It was reported on June 12, 2009, that judges of the High Criminal Court of Fars Province of Iran held a hearing to try a man ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Production, Distribution, and Sale of Obscene Computer Content Are Punishable (Aug. 31, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Islamic House of Representatives introduced certain amendments to the Computer-Generated Crimes Bill in compliance with objections to the bill raised by the Guardian Council.

...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Chief of Judiciary Warns Against Rising Cost of Compensation (Aug. 28, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

It was reported on August 25, 2009, that the head of Iran's judiciary had warned judges against the rising cost to the state treasury of the ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Further Developments Regarding Discontinuation of Punishment of Stoning to Death (Aug. 06, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Islamic Republic of Iran is considering abolition of the punishment of stoning to death (rajm) from the Islamic Criminal Code of December 1991. The announcement ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Woman Hanged for Murder Committed at Age 17 (Jun. 22, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

It was recently reported in an Iranian newspaper that a young woman, now 23 years old, was hanged for a murder she had committed as a ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Man Sentenced to Be Stoned to Death for Adultery (Jun. 22, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

It was reported on May 8, 2009, that a 30-year-old man was sentenced to be stoned to death in Iran on the charge of adultery. Under ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Accused Murderer Saved from Execution by Taking Oaths (Jun. 19, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

Application of an Islamic criminal justice principle by the Supreme Court of Iran saved the life of a man accused of murder. (Arts. 239-256, Islamic Criminal ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Appeals Court Upholds 20-Year Sentence for Koran Translators (Jun. 15, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

A court in Afghanistan sentenced two men to 20 years of imprisonment for modifying the Koran in their Dari-language translation of the religious book, sparing them ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Afghanistan, Islamic State of

Council of Ministers Approves Lowering Voting Age (Jun. 12, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

With the purpose of extending the opportunity for young people to participate more effectively in presidential elections, the Council of Ministers of Iran approved a decree ...

Topic: Elections
Jurisdiction: Iran

New Law Places Restrictions on Women (Jun. 12, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

A controversial Afghan law that many Western analysts equate with legalizing rape was put into force after it received the approval of the Afghanistan Parliament (both ...

Topic: Family
Jurisdiction: Afghanistan, Islamic State of

Supreme Court Upholds Retaliation Punishment (May. 18, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Supreme Court turned down the appeal of a man who by throwing acid into the eyes of a woman turned her blind. The 27-year old, ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Bill on Trial of War Criminals (May. 15, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Iranian government's cabinet approved a bill to launch investigations into alleged war crimes and prosecute war criminals in any part of the world.

The ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

New Women's Inheritance Law Is Enforced (May. 15, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

The Iranian government has begun implementing controversial legislation that allows women to inherit all forms of their husband's property.

According to Article 946 of ...

Topic: Family
Jurisdiction: Iran

Tax Exemption Ceiling for Civil Servants Raised (Apr. 14, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

It was reported on April 8, 2009, that Iran's Taxation Department has raised the tax exemption ceiling to about five million tomans per month for civil ...

Topic: Taxation
Jurisdiction: Iran

Stoning-to-Death Conviction of Two Sisters Overturned (Mar. 27, 2009) by Gholam Vafai

Supported by a video tape as the main evidence, along with complaints lodged by their husbands, two women were tried at the first criminal court in ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Law Passed to Determine New Constituencies for Women Parliamentarians (Sep. 05, 2008) by Gholam Vafai

It was reported in May 2008 that a presidential decree is set to determine new constituencies for women parliamentarians in Rwanda, who are elected by electoral ...

Topic: Women
Jurisdiction: Rwanda

Eight Women, One Man Are Awaiting Stoning to Death (Sep. 05, 2008) by Gholam Vafai

Under Iran's Islamic criminal law (article 83), stoning to death is the punishment for the following acts:

1- Adultery committed by a married man. A ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

Iran Bans Execution in Public (Mar. 02, 2008) by Gholam Vafai

According to a directive issued by Iran's Chief of the Judiciary, no convicted criminal may be executed in public without the prior approval of the Head ...

Topic: Capital punishment
Jurisdiction: Iran

Judiciary High Council Bans Judges from Membership in Political Parties (Mar. 02, 2008) by Gholam Vafai

A directive issued by the Judiciary High Council of Iran in late 2007 states that, for the purpose of ensuring neutrality in the performance of judicial ...

Topic: Government ethics
Jurisdiction: Iran

New Law Punishes Illegal Audiovisual Activities (Mar. 02, 2008) by Gholam Vafai

The Iranian Islamic House (Majlisi Showra'i Islami Iran) passed a law on January 16, 2008, on the punishment of those involved in illegal audiovisual activities. According ...

Topic: Criminal law and procedure
Jurisdiction: Iran

President Returns a Law Passed by the House as Unconstitutional (Feb. 02, 2008) by Gholam Vafai

Dr. Haddad A'adel, Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (House of Representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran), made the following statement at a recent meeting ...

Topic: Constitutional law
Jurisdiction: Iran