Iran – Punishment for Adultery – Iran Penal Code

 

 

 

Punishment for Adultery in
Iran

 

Adultery is a capital offense
in the Islamic Republic of Iran and punishable by flogging, hanging,
and stoning.  The following is a
translation of the articles of the Islamic Penal Code of Iran that
pertain to the legal punishments for adultery.

 

Translated by: Dr. Soheila
Vahdati

Compared with the original
text by: Gholam Hossein Raeesi, Attorney at Law

 

The Islamic Penal
Code

 

Book II – Hodoud
(Shari’a-based Punishments)

 

Section I – Shari’a-based Punishment for
Adultery

 

Chapter 1- Definition and
Reasons for Adultery Punishment

 

Article 63 – Adultery is
defined as the intercourse between a man and a woman whose intercourse is
inherently forbidden “haraam”, even if it is from behind, other than those cases
where the person has had a doubt [i.e., mistaken identity].

 

Article 64 – Adultery is
punished when the adulterer is mature*, sane, and acting by free will and is
also aware of the offence and its punishment.

 

Article 65 – If a man or a
woman is aware that the intercourse with the other party is forbidden, and the
other party is not aware, thinking that the intercourse is legitimate, then only
the party who has been aware that the intercourse is forbidden shall be
sentenced to the punishment.

 

Article 66 – If a man or a
woman who have had intercourse together claim mistake and unawareness, then in
the case that the claimant deems honest, then the claim is accepted without oath
and witness and the punishment is annulled.

 

Article 67 – If an
adulterer claims that s/he has committed adultery under duress, her/his claim is
accepted if the contrary is not believed to be true.

 

Chapter 2- Methods of Proving
Adultery in Court

 

Article 68 – If a man or
woman confesses to adultery four times before the judge, s/he will be sentenced
to the adultery punishment and if they confess less than four times, then s/he
will be punished by Tazeer. [Tazeer refers to the punishments that are
not defined by Sharia’ and it is left to the Sharia’ Judge to specify it by
sentence to imprisonment, cash fine, or flogging in which case the number of
lashes must be less than Hodoud.]

 

 

Article 69 – The
confession is valid when the confessor has the virtues of maturity*, sanity,
willingness, and liberty.

                                                                                  

Article 70 – The
confession must be explicit or appear to be not inconsistent with the case.

 

Article 71 – If a person
confesses to adultery and then denies it, if the adultery is to be punished by
killing or stoning**, then the denial annuls the punishment of killing and
stoning. Otherwise, with the denial after the confession the punishment is not
annulled.

 

Article 72 – If a person
confesses to the type of adultery that is punishable and then repents, the judge
can either ask the Head of Judiciary for clemency or carry out the
punishment.

 

Article 73 – A woman who
does not have a husband, shall not be punished for becoming pregnant unless her
adultery is proven by one of the methods mentioned in this law.

 

Article 74 – Adultery,
when punishable by either flogging or stoning, can be proven by the testimony of
either four just men, or three just men and two just women.

 

Article 75 – If adultery
is punishable by flogging, then it could also be proven by the testimony of two
just men and four just women.

 

Article 76 – The testimony
by women alone or along with the testimony of a just man does not prove adultery
but the witnesses will be subject to the punishment for false accusation (Qazf)
as specified by the law. [Qazf: is defined as accusing a person of adultery or
anal sex. It is punishable by 80 lashes. (Article 139)]

 

Article 77 – The testimony
of the witnesses must be clear and without ambiguity and based on observation
and testimony based on conjectures is not credible.

 

Article 78 – If the
witnesses describe the specifics of the subject of testimony, there should be no
discrepancy in their descriptions in terms of the time, place, and such. In case
of discrepancy among witnesses’ testimonies, then not only the adultery is not
proven but the witnesses will be sentenced to punishment for false accusation
(Qazf).

 

Article 79 – The witnesses
must testify one after another without any lapse of time.  If some of the witnesses testify and then
some other witnesses are not immediately present to testify or do not testify,
then adultery is not proven.  In
this case, the witness will be subject to punishment for false accusation
(Qazf).

 

Article 80 – The adultery
punishment shall be executed immediately except for the cases described in the
later articles.

 

Article 81 – If the
adulterer repents prior to the testimony, then the punishment is annulled and if
s/he repents after the testimony, then the punishment is not annulled.

 

Chapter 3 – Types of Adultery
Punishment

 

Article 82 – The
punishment for adultery in the following cases is killing and there is no
difference between young and not-young and marriage-bound and not
marriage-bound.

1. Adultery
   with “mahaarim” [“Mahaarim” of a person are the relatives by blood or marriage
   who are within the prohibited degree of marriage such as one’s siblings,
   parents, and in-laws.]
2. Adultery
   with step-mother which shall constitute the killing of the adulterer.
3. Adultery
   of a non-Muslim with a Muslim woman which will constitute the killing of the
   adulterer.
4. Adultery
   by force and duress that will constitute the killing of the forcing
   adulterer.

 

Article 83 – The
punishment for adultery in the following cases is stoning.

1. Adultery
   of a marriage-bound man that is defined as a man who has a permanent wife and
   has had intercourse with her while being sane and can have intercourse with
   her whenever he so wishes.
2. Adultery
   of a marriage-bound woman with an adult man, a marriage-bound woman is a woman
   who has a permanent husband and the husband has had intercourse with the woman
   when she was sane and has had the opportunity to have intercourse with the
   husband, too.
3. Adultery
   of a marriage-bound woman with a minor constitutes flogging.

 

Article 84 – An old
adulterer or an old adulteress who qualifies as marriage-bound shall be subject
to flogging punishment prior to stoning.

 

Article 85 – Revocable
divorce, prior to the end of the possible revoking period, does not disqualify a
man or woman from being marriage-bound, but irrevocable divorce disqualifies
them from being marriage-bound.

 

Article 86 – Adultery by a
man or a woman when each has a permanent spouse but has no access to the spouse
due to travel or imprisonment or similar reasonable excuses, shall not
constitute stoning.

 

Article 87 – A married man
who before penetration [into his wife] commits adultery shall be sentenced to
flogging, having his head shaven, and one year of exile.

 

Article 88 – The adultery
punishment for a man or woman who does not meet the marriage-bound conditions is
one hundred lashes.

                                       

Article 89 – Repetition of
adultery prior to executing the adultery punishment will not constitute
repetition of the punishment if the punishments are the same, but if the
punishments are of different types, like some constitute flogging and other
constitute stoning, then flogging punishment shall be executed prior to
stoning.

 

Article 90 – If a man or
woman commits adultery several times and at each instance is punished, then will
be killed upon the fourth instance.

 

Article 91 – During
pregnancy and parturition bleeding the woman shall not be subjected to murder or
stoning.  Also after the childbirth
if the infant has no guardian and there is a concern that the infant might die,
the punishment will not be carried out, but if a guardian is found for the
infant then the punishment shall be executed.

 

Article 92 – When a
pregnant or breastfeeding woman is to be punished by flogging and there is
concern for possible harm to the pregnancy or the breastfeeding infant, then the
punishment will be delayed until the time that the punishment causes no such
harm.

 

Article 93 – If a sick
person or menstruating woman is sentenced to be murdered or stoned, the
punishment shall be carried out but if sentenced to flogging then the punishment
will be delayed until the sickness and menstruation is over.

 

Article 94 – If there is
no hope for recovery of a sick person, or the Shari’a judge (hakeme shar’) deems
appropriate that the punishment be executed during the sickness, then a bunch of
one hundred lashes or whips will be inflicted once even if not all of them touch
the body of the convict.

 

Article 95 – If the
convict sentenced to punishment becomes insane or converts, the punishment shall
not be annulled.

 

Article 96 – The flogging
shall not be carried out in too cold or too hot weather.

 

Article 97 – The
punishment cannot be executed in the land of the enemies of Islam.

 

Chapter 4 – How to Execute the
Punishment

 

Article 98 – When a person
is sentenced to multiple punishments, the order of carrying out the sentences
must be such that none of them prevents another, therefore if someone is
sentenced to flogging and stoning, first flogging and then stoning shall be
carried out.

 

Article 99 – If adultery
by a person, who meets the marriage-bound conditions, is proven by his/her
confession, then at the time of stoning the first stone will be thrown by the
Shari’a judge and then by others, and if the adultery is proven by the testimony
of witnesses, then first the witnesses will throw stones, then the Shari’a
judge, and then others.

Note – Absence or lack of
action of the judge and witnesses in throwing the first stone shall not prevent
carrying out the sentence and in any case the punishment must be executed.

 

Article 100 – The flogging
punishment for an adulterer man shall be carried out as he is standing and
wearing no clothing except to cover his genitals.  Lashes must forcefully inflict his entire
body except for his head, face, and genitals.  An adulterer woman shall be flogged in a
sitting position with her clothes bound to her body.

 

Article 101 – It is
appropriate that the judge informs the public of the time of the punishment and
it is necessary that a group of believers, not less than three people, be
present when the punishment is carried out.

 

Article 102 – An adulterer
man shall be buried in a ditch up to near his waist and an adulterer woman up to
near her chest and then stoned to death.

 

Article 103 – In case the
person sentenced to stoning escapes the ditch in which they are buried, then if
the adultery is proven by testimony then they will be returned for the
punishment but if it is proven by their own confession then they will not be
returned.

Note – If the person
sentenced to flogging escapes they shall be returned in any case.

 

Article 104 – The size of
the stone used in stoning shall not be too large to kill the convict by one or
two throws and at the same time shall not be too small to be called a stone.

 

Article 105 – The Shari’a
Judge can act upon his own knowledge in the cases of [defending] the God’s
Rights (Haghollah) and People’s Rights (Haghonnas)  and carry out the punishment constituted
by the God and it is necessary that he documents his knowledge.  The execution of the punishment in case
of God’s Rights (Haghollah)  is not
contingent upon anyone’s request but in case of People’s Rights (Haghonnas)  is contingent on the owner of the
right.

 

Article 106 – Adultery
during the holy times such as religious festivities and Ramadan and Friday and
at holy places such as mosques will constitute flogging in addition to the
regular punishment.

 

 

*Note by translator: A man is
mature at the age of 15 lunar years, and a woman is mature at the age of 9 lunar
years, given that the physical maturity is visible, too.

 

** Note by translator: Stoning
in the Islamic Penal Code of Iran refers to stoning to
death.

Source: http://www.hoqouq.com/law/article363.html