Law and Punishment: Hand and Machete

A few days ago, news about the punishment of a bank robber in the central prison of Mashhad was published in some Iranian newspapers and news websites. The punishment was the severe measure of cutting off a hand and a foot. This was not the first time such a ruling had been executed in Iran. Similar rulings had previously been carried out publicly in front of witnesses. Many of us have seen the implementation of harsh punishments up close in our own cities or heard about them from acquaintances. Punishments such as flogging or parading defendants and convicts in the city. These punishments may not correspond to the crime and remind us of the story of "Les Misérables" by the French author Victor Hugo, where the protagonist Jean Valjean is sentenced to years in prison for stealing a loaf of bread. In Iran, following the 1979 revolution, according to Islamic Penal Code and based on Article 198 of this law, punishments such as stoning, amputation, and flogging are considered for certain convicts, including those accused of theft, and are executed at the discretion of the judge. These punishments are viewed as inhumane by Abdolkarim Lahiji, a lawyer and president of the International Federation for Human Rights. Lahiji states, "Flogging is torture. Since 1984, when the UN Convention Against Torture was adopted, almost all countries are members of that convention, except for countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia, which unfortunately still carry out corporal punishments that are explicitly considered torture by Article 1 of the convention, including flogging or other punishments like amputation." However, supporters of such punishments believe that their implementation can have a deterrent and preventive effect and can prevent re-offending. This is a view that Bahareh Davis, a researcher on Iran at Amnesty International, rejects. Davis tells Radio Farda that "these punishments are not deterrent; moreover, they promote violence and constitute torture and additional mistreatment, especially towards the convict's family." According to reports from the Iranian police, crime is more influenced by increasing social and economic hardships, and as long as these economic and social problems persist, it is unrealistic to expect a reduction in criminal acts, especially crimes like theft, in a society where news of large-scale embezzlements, especially at high levels, is continuously published. However, the question arises whether there is a proportionality between crime and punishment in Iran, particularly in the laws being enforced. Hossein Reisi, a lawyer who is our guest this week, believes there is not. Reisi tells us, "There is no proportionality between crime and punishment in Islamic Penal Law, particularly in cases considered as Hudud and Qisas, as well as many instances of Ta'zir." He explains that "the reason for this issue goes back to the structure of criminal law designed based on Islamic regulations and extreme political interpretations of Islamic regulations, without legislative operations considering the relationship between law and societal needs, ultimately enforced by courts, with a strong emphasis on its implementation by the current judiciary management. Therefore, there is no proportionality between existing laws and regulations and the crimes occurring, especially since new thinkers also believe that Islamic legal regulations are not executable at present." In this struggle regarding the nature and emergence of crime, greater attention must be paid to the level of public needs. It is clear that as society moves towards improving living conditions, it also has a more successful trajectory in controlling violence and criminal acts. In fact, the most important issue is the feeling of economic and social security that creates trust and confidence among citizens. Naturally, the criminal justice system of any country also plays a crucial role in creating a sense of security and trust and preventing the reproduction of crime. Hossein Reisi believes that there are two criminal justice systems in the world, and the outcomes of implementing these two systems are very different. He states, "There are two types of structures: one is a repressive criminal justice structure, and the other is a justice-oriented criminal justice system. In repressive criminal justice systems, the goal is essentially to suppress, destroy, and compel individuals through the use of force to refrain from committing certain acts. This method of the criminal justice system does not ensure justice at all. The Iranian criminal justice system is also a repressive criminal justice system, as it has the highest execution rates, the highest rates of amputations, long-term imprisonment, and flogging, all of which are contrary to the inherent dignity of human beings." Reisi adds, "On the other hand, we see that the rates of crimes and punishments in Iran are on the rise. Especially since Mr. Larijani took over the Iranian judiciary, there has been a greater insistence on implementing these punishments, to the extent that the prison population in Iran has roughly doubled since his tenure. Despite the intensification of repression, the rates of executions and public amputations have also increased." However, the question arises as to what the justice-oriented criminal justice system is based upon. Hossein Reisi believes that in this structure, the law and its enforcers are not looking to suppress the criminal. He says, "After the French Revolution, the issue of human dignity received more attention. In a justice-oriented criminal justice system, the focus is on the social reintegration of the criminal. The criminal is not viewed as someone to be cut off from society and suppressed, but rather as someone for whom an incident may have occurred due to deficiencies that led to criminal behavior. In fact, all aspects of the close and distant circumstances of the incident and criminal acts are studied, and society strives for the reintegration of the convict and to create stable judicial security so that convicts can be educated in prisons through a precise scientific process and return to better conditions and life; because crime is not an instantaneous process, whereas in the repressive criminal justice system, such as the Islamic Republic, crime is viewed as an instantaneous and momentary process." Victor Hugo writes in his book Les Misérables that when the unfortunate and the wicked come together, they become one word, and that word is "Les Misérables." Benjamin Sadr has been professionally active in various Iranian newspapers since 2001. He joined the editorial team of Radio Farda in 2013, and during his time at Radio Farda, he has produced and hosted radio programs, as well as being the producer and host of the television program FardaGram.