IRANIAN DEATH PENALTY LEGISLATION FOR APOSTASY

Institute on Religion and Public Policy Reported on February 5, 2008 that the government of Mr. Ahmadinejad has sent an apostasy legislation to the Islamic Parliament of Iran.   The bill proposes mandating the death penalty for apostasy and blasphemy.  The report was carried by many other reliable sources including Compass Direct News.

Some of the articles of the proposed bill are:

Article 225-1  Any Muslim who clearly announces that he/she has left Islam and declares blasphemy is an Apostate.

Article 225-2: Serious and earnest intention is the condition for certainty in apostasy. Therefore, if the accused claims that his/her statement had been made with reluctance or ignorance, or in error, or while drunk, or through a slip of the tongue or without understanding the meaning of the words, or repeating words of others; or his/her real intentions had been something else, he/she is not considered an apostate and his/her claim could be heard and justified.

Article 225-3: There are two kinds of apostates: innate (Fetri) and parental (Melli).

Article 225-4: Innate Apostate is someone whose parent (at least one) was a Muslim at the time of conception, and who declares him/herself a Muslim after the age of maturity, and leaves Islam afterwards.

Article 225-5: Parental Apostate is one whose parents (both) had been non-Muslims at the time of conception, and who has become a Muslim after the age of maturity, and later leaves Islam and returns to blasphemy.

Article 225-6: If someone has at least one Muslim parent at the time of conception but after the age of maturity, without pretending to be a Muslim, chooses blasphemy is considered a Parental Apostate.

Article 225-7: Punishment for an Innate Apostate is death.

Article 225-8: Punishment for a Parental Apostate is death, but after the final sentencing for three days he/she would be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant his/her belief and if he/she refused, the death penalty would be carried out.

Article 225-9: In the case of a Parental Apostate, whenever there appears to be a possibility of recanting, sufficient time would be provided.

Article 225-10: Punishment for women, whether Innate or Parental, is life imprisonment and during the sentence, under the guidance of the court, hardship will be exercised on her, and she will be guided to the right path and encouraged to recant, and if she recants she will be freed immediately.

Note: The condition of hardship will be determined according to the religious laws.

Article 225-11: Whoever claims to be a Prophet is sentenced to death, and any Muslim who invents a heresy in the religion and creates a sect based on that which is contrary to the obligations and necessities of Islam, is considered an apostate.

Article 225-12: Any Muslim who deals with witchcraft and promotes it as a profession or sect in the community is sentenced to death.

Article 225-13: Assistance to the crimes in this chapter, in case there is no other punishment assigned to it by law, is punishable by up to 74 lashes in proportion with the crime and the criminal.

Since an Islamic court in Sari, northern Iran, imposed the death penalty on Rev. Mehdi Dibaj (a Muslim convert Christian) in December 1993 and the negative worldwide reaction to it, the Islamic courts of Iran have not passed such a harsh penalty on a convert.  However, during that period a few known Muslim convert Christians have been murdered by government agents and/or Muslim fanatics.  Additionally, about three dozen such converts have disappeared and are presumed murdered.

The proposed legislation reflects the increasing influence of the fanatical circles in the government of Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  The proposed bill which is expected to pass the Islamic Parliament will free the hands of the Muslim fanatics in and outside of the government to carry out "legal" murder of Muslim convert Christians and other religious minorities such as the Bahais.