Exceptions to the principle of equality in Iranian criminal law

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Shahid Beheshti UniversityPhD Student, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Equality and equality in all matters, including legal matters, will be crystallized in the equal observance of the rights of the parties in criminal law and in respect of their rights in criminal proceedings. But looking at criminal law, we come across some legal materials and principles that suggest that the principle of criminal equality sometimes has exceptions. Therefore, in this research, the exceptions to the principle of criminal equality in Iranian criminal law have been studied by analytical-descriptive method. What is the requirement of the principle of equality of persons in criminal law? The requirement of the principle of criminal equality is that the rights of all individuals be respected equally. Of course, this does not mean that some principles governing the religion of the country are ignored. The result of this research is that by examining the criminal laws of Iran, it is clear that this principle has exceptions regarding the special position of Muslims in relation to other followers of religions. In the case of non-Muslim adultery with a Muslim woman, the perpetrator will be executed if he is a non-Muslim. Of course, since the Islamic Penal Code has a jurisprudential basis, so the reason for such rulings to maintain the authority of Muslims, non-domination of infidels over Muslims, etc. are among the most important of these factors. The issue of personality and status of individuals is one of the cases in which the principle of criminal equality seems to have been neglected in these cases.

Keywords