Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Department of Criminal Law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Tarbiat Modares University of Tehran
2
Department of Criminal law and Criminology, Faculty of Law, Tarbiat modares university of Tehran
Abstract
The right to punish the criminal in the form of qiṣāṣ (Arabic: قِصَاص, lit. “accountability, pursuing, or prosecuting”) has been fully granted to the heirs of the victim, who are the avengers of blood (relatives of the victim), following the revolution and the change in the legislator’s approach. This aligns with the Islamic penal system and the protection of victims. In contrast, prior to the Islamic revolution, the public aspect of intentional homicide (Arabic: قَتْلُ الْعَمْد, romanized: qatl al-ʿamd) completely prevailed over its private aspect. This action is considered as a kind of forgivable murder, assigning the right of punishment to the victim’s family, and thus strengthening the role of the victims of intentional murder in the criminal process. This action means assigning all the responsibilities resulting from the decision making and execution of the sentence to the avengers of blood. The main question of this article is: What effects and consequences does granting the right to qiṣāṣ to the blood avengers and involving them in the criminal process have? To answer this question, 18 cases of intentional murder were studied using the method of document analysis during the period from 1996 to 2021. Additionally, with the use of in-depth interviews, individual and group discussions were conducted with 23 family members of the victims and 7 active participants in the investigation of murder cases, including judges, lawyers, and individuals involved in mediation for murder cases. The findings of this research indicated that while granting the right of qiṣāṣ to the relatives of the victim can ostensibly provide solace to the victims, in practice, it may become a factor in creating conflict between the two families or within the local community. This situation can make the judicial process emotional, threaten the safety of the victims’ families, and result in increased psychological pressure, ultimately delaying their treatment and psychological healing. In this regard, it is necessary to take certain measures to overcome these challenges and reduce the destructive effects of this grant. These measures include systematizing restorative processes and consulting with the victim’s relatives to obtain consent, criminalizing any threats or harm to the victim’s family by the offender and their associates as a public crime against judicial justice, minimizing the presence of blood avengers (the victim’s relatives) and physical confrontations between the parties involved in the lawsuit, and removing legal requirements (operation of law) for the active participation of blood avengers or their representatives in the trial and execution of the sentence.
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