With the Approval of the Guardian Council, Blood Money for Women and Men Equalized in Third Party Insurance

With the approval of the Guardian Council, the blood money for women and men, which was previously proposed in the Third Party Insurance bill, has been equalized. Rahim Zare, the spokesperson for the Economic Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, announced on March 15 that 'the equality of blood money for women and men was previously proposed in the Third Party Insurance bill, and fortunately, the Guardian Council has approved this bill.' He explained this bill by stating, 'Our justification for the equality of blood money for women and men is that some women are the heads of their families, and when they suffer an accident and die, their survivors face difficulties.' Mr. Zare emphasized that 'after the implementation of the Third Party Insurance law and with the Guardian Council's opinion, this matter will be communicated to the government and will be enforceable 15 days after the notification.' Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the spokesperson for the Judiciary, had previously announced on March 6 that the blood money for each person in 2016 was set at 190 million tomans. Mr. Ejei stated that this amount was determined based on field studies and considering the inflation rate. The spokesperson for the Judiciary also reported an increase in blood money during the sacred months by one-third of the normal amount. The blood money in 2015 was set at 165 million tomans. Achieving equal blood money for women and men has been one of the demands of women's rights activists in Iran. Blood money is one of the laws of Islam, and based on it, if someone is killed, compensation is paid to their survivors. In the early years of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, based on the opinion of Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti, the then-head of the Supreme Court, it was stated that 'a woman is not a breadwinner, and thus half of the blood money should be paid,' which led to the determination of men's blood money being twice that of women in Islamic penal law.