Iran
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- theocratic republic
- CONSTITUTION
- December 1979, revised in 1989 to extend presidential power
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- based on Sharia law
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- unicameral, Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Supreme Court
RELIGIONS
Shia majority; 10% Sunni; Christian, Jewish, Bahá'í, and Zoroastrian minorities
From the country
- JUNE 23, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran insisted that it wanted France to extradite members...
Iran insisted that it wanted France to extradite members of an armed opposition group arrested in a major roundup of the exile organisation
- JUNE 20, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a prominent jurist sitting...
Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a prominent jurist sitting on both the Guardians Council and Expediency Council, Iran's two top political oversight bodies, called on Iran's hard-line judiciary to treat "rioters" arrested during 10 nights of anti-regime protests
- JUNE 16, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Two members of the Peoples Mujahedeen who have lived...
Two members of the Peoples Mujahedeen who have lived in Britain as political refugees for decades were recently arrested in Syria and handed over to the clerical regime in Tehran, the Iranian opposition movement said
- JUNE 1, 2003Saudi ArabiaDEATH PENALTY
Two Iranian drug smugglers were sentenced to death...
Two Iranian drug smugglers were sentenced to death and four to life in jail in Saudi Arabia after they set fire to their boat loaded with nearly a tonne of hashish during a police chase at sea, Gulf News said
- MAY 28, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The Halabjah Centre against Anfal and Genocide of the...
The Halabjah Centre against Anfal and Genocide of the Kurdish People condemned the execution of three citizens from Iranian Kurdistan by the country's authorities
- MAY 27, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
The conservative Iranian daily Kayhan reported that...
The conservative Iranian daily Kayhan reported that Ghassem Abdollahi, a 47 year old Afghani, had been publicly hanged for murder in the south-western town of Poldokhtar
- MAY 27, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
It was reported that leading Iranian cleric Grand Ayatollah...
It was reported that leading Iranian cleric Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi issued an edict ordering judges not to impose executions by stoning
- MAY 20, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Two brothers convicted of drug smuggling were publicly...
Two brothers convicted of drug smuggling were publicly hanged in a park in eastern Tehran
- MAY 13, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Hussein Turkzadeh, alias Hossein Balouch, was executed...
Hussein Turkzadeh, alias Hossein Balouch, was executed in Kerman for murdering nine people, including his 16-year-old wife, and drug trafficking, a few years after escaping while serving a 25-year jail sentence for drug offences
- MAY 13, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Eight people were hanged in the northwest city of Mashhad...
Eight people were hanged in the northwest city of Mashhad for offences ranging from rape and murder to kidnapping women and homosexuality
- MAY 13, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man convicted of murdering two fellow Iranians...
An Iranian man convicted of murdering two fellow Iranians with a Kalashnikov assault rifle, as well as three counts of rape, was beheaded with a sword in the south-eastern province of Sistan Baluchestan bordering Pakistan
- MAY 11, 2003IranDEATH PENALTY
Six men accused of a series of five murders to uphold...
Six men accused of a series of five murders to uphold Islamic morality in Iran's south-eastern city of Kerman were sentenced to death, the lawyer of one of the victims said