Code of 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.
a. 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.]
b. Adultery
with step-mother which shall constitute the killing of the adulterer.
c. Adultery
of a non-Muslim with a Muslim woman which will constitute the killing of the
adulterer.
d. 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.
a. 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.
b. 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.
c. 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.
Article 107 – The presence of the witnesses
is necessary when stoning punishment is carried out but the punishment shall not
be annulled due to their absence but it shall be annulled with their escape.
*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 of the Original Code in Farsi (Persian):
http://www.hoqouq.com/law/article363.html