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
- DECEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Death row academic Hashem Aghajari filed a complaint...
Death row academic Hashem Aghajari filed a complaint against the Judiciary with the Majlis Article 90 Commission, IRNA quoted the press as saying
- DECEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Australia said it was "pleased" with a first round...
Australia said it was "pleased" with a first round of discussions in Tehran with Iran on thorny human rights issues, saying the talks would continue
- DECEMBER 11, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi defended capital...
Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi defended capital punishment in the country, saying it exists in many other countries, ahead of political and trade talks with the European Union
- DECEMBER 10, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Some 100 Iranian protestors staged mock executions...
Some 100 Iranian protestors staged mock executions outside a meeting of EU foreign ministers, to protest an EU decision to launch trade talks with Tehran
- DECEMBER 7, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Baton-wielding security forces arrested at least 60...
Baton-wielding security forces arrested at least 60 people in the Iranian capital, a city official said, as thousands gathered in and around Tehran University to call for political reform
- DECEMBER 4, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
In an open letter to the press, Iranian dissident academic...
In an open letter to the press, Iranian dissident academic Hashim Aghajari took on his conservative opponents, mocking his death sentence for blasphemy as a political verdict
- DECEMBER 2, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A lawyer for an Iranian professor sentenced to death...
A lawyer for an Iranian professor sentenced to death for insulting Islam appealed the verdict, saying he was acting against his client's wishes a day before the verdict was to become final
- NOVEMBER 29, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Ayatollah Bojnurdi the head of Iran's Islamic Human...
Ayatollah Bojnurdi the head of Iran's Islamic Human Rights Commission condemned the death sentence issued against university professor Hashem Aghajari
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
A court in the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced two...
A court in the Islamic Republic of Iran sentenced two men to death for murdering a used car dealer in Tehran
- NOVEMBER 26, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Aghajari, the prominent Iranian academic condemned...
Aghajari, the prominent Iranian academic condemned to death for blasphemy refuses to appeal his sentence, his lawyer told AFP, after the judiciary said the controversial verdict will be upheld unless Hashem Aghajari lodges an appeal
- NOVEMBER 24, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iran's student movement bowed to pressure from ruling...
Iran's student movement bowed to pressure from ruling hardliners and called a halt to two weeks of nationwide protests in defence of a liberal academic sentenced to death
- NOVEMBER 24, 2002IranDEATH PENALTY
Iranian authorities slapped an outright ban on further...
Iranian authorities slapped an outright ban on further student demonstrations against the sentencing to death of a pro-reform dissident academic