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
- NOVEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's hardline-controlled judiciary stood behind the...
Iran's hardline-controlled judiciary stood behind the sentencing to death of a prominent pro-reform academic, hitting out at parliamentary efforts to have the ruling quashed
- NOVEMBER 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Five convicted drug traffickers were hanged in a prison...
Five convicted drug traffickers were hanged in a prison in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj, Kayhan reported
- NOVEMBER 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hundreds of Iranian students protested for a second...
Hundreds of Iranian students protested for a second day, outraged at a death sentence for blasphemy imposed on a reformist academic that has ignited a battle for political control of the Islamic Republic
- NOVEMBER 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's pro-reform parliamentary majority protested...
Iran's pro-reform parliamentary majority protested against the death sentence imposed on dissident academic Hashem Aghajari, then passed the first draft of controversial legislation intended to curb the powers of their hardline opponents in the judiciary
- NOVEMBER 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The Islamic Students' Society of Al-Zahra University,...
The Islamic Students' Society of Al-Zahra University, the Legal and Political Science Faculty of Tehran University, the Social Science Faculty of Tehran University and the Faculty of Science of Tehran University issued separate statements protesting the d
- NOVEMBER 9, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hundreds of Iranian students chanting "Political prisoners...
Hundreds of Iranian students chanting "Political prisoners should be released!" protested against Iran's hardline judiciary and Hashem Aghajari's death sentence for blasphemy in the biggest political demonstration for over three years
- NOVEMBER 9, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
The front pages of many Tehran newspapers reflected...
The front pages of many Tehran newspapers reflected the predictable outrage that Hashem Aghajari's death sentence provoked among reformists in Iran
- NOVEMBER 7, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian court sentenced an academic and close ally...
An Iranian court sentenced an academic and close ally of President Mohammad Khatami to death for blasphemy after he questioned the right of the clergy to rule the Islamic Republic, his lawyer said
- NOVEMBER 6, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian man was hanged in the northwestern city...
An Iranian man was hanged in the northwestern city of Tabriz after being convicted of drug-trafficking, IRNA reported
- NOVEMBER 6, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Hands Off Cain appealed to the media, political parties...
Hands Off Cain appealed to the media, political parties and citizens aware of the death penalty issue to campaign in favour of four Iranian women, who like Amina Lawal in Nigeria, were condemned to death by stoning
- NOVEMBER 5, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Two executions were carried in western Iranian city...
Two executions were carried in western Iranian city of Marivan, the scene of bloody clashes and a prison riot in September
- NOVEMBER 5, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
An Iranian woman found guilty of complicity to murder...
An Iranian woman found guilty of complicity to murder survived her execution by stoning by managing to escape the hole she was buried in, the Women In Iran website reported