{"id":44,"area":"Asia","region_name":"Iran","iso_2":"IR","region_sub":null,"legal_code_title":"Islamic Penal Code from 2013, Book No. 2: Hudud & Press Law from 1986 & Law on Computer Crimes, Law No. 71,063","legal_code_title_citation_1":"Text of the law is available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/518a19404.html","legal_code_title_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body":"Article 233 - “Livat is defined as penetration of a man’s sex organ (penis), up to the point of circumcision, into another male person’s anus.”\n\nArticle 234 - “The hadd punishment for livat shall be the death penalty for the insertive party if he has committed livat by using force, coercion, or in cases where he meets the conditions for ihsan; otherwise, he shall be sentenced to one hundred lashes. The hadd punishment for the receptive party, in any case (whether or not he meets the conditions for ihsan) shall be the death penalty.”\n\nArticle 235 - “Tafkhiz is defined as putting a man’s sex organ (penis) between the thighs or buttocks of another male person.”\n\nArticle 236 - “In the case of tafkhiz, the hadd punishment for the insertive and receptive party shall be one hundred lashes and it shall make no difference whether or not the offender meets the conditions of ihsan [mentioned in note 2 of article 234], or whether or not [the offender] has resorted to coercion.”\n\nArticle 237 - “Homosexual acts of a male person in cases other than livat and tafkhiz, such as kissing or touching as a result of lust, shall be punishable by thirty-one to seventy-four lashes of ta’zir punishment of the sixth grade.”\n\nArticle 238 - “Musaheqeh is defined as where a female person puts her sex organ on the sex organ of another person of the same sex.”\n\nArticle 239 - “The hadd punishment for musaheqeh shall be one hundred lashes.”\n\nArticle 240 - “Regarding the hadd punishment for musaheqeh, there is no difference between the active or passive parties or between Muslims and non-Muslims, or between a person that meets the conditions for ihsan and a person who does not, and also whether or not [the offender] has resorted to coercion.”\n\nArticle 6 - “The Press is free, except for items which undermine Islam’s bases and commandments, and public and private rights, as set forth in this chapter: [...] Spreading fornication and forbidden practices and publishing photographs, pictures, and material which violate public chastity.”\n\nArticle 14 - “Whoever uses computer systems, telecommunications systems or data carriers to publish or distribute immoral content, or produces or store them with the intention of corrupting the society, will be sentenced to imprisonment for between 91 days to 2 years or will be fined ... or both.”","legal_code_body_citation_1":null,"legal_code_body_citation_2":null,"legal_code_body_citation_3":null,"legal_code_body_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments":"There are a number of articles within the Press Law that directly impede freedom of expression to do with sexual orientation, \ngender identity and sex characteristics. \nWhile reviewing a periodic report of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2013, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (at para. 7) expressed concern over the criminalisation of consensual same-sex sexual activity and the possibility that convicted male persons may be subject to the death penalty. \nAt its 1st cycle UPR in February 2010, Iran received three recommendations regarding decriminalisation and discrimination based on SOGI, while at its 2nd cycle review in October 2014, there were 14 SOGI recommendations. These mostly centered on decriminalisation, persecution and discrimination. At its Interactive Dialogue session the delegation of Iran justified his country’s position on ‘homosexuality’, by saying it was not so long ago that same-sex sexual relations had been “subject to prosecution in most Western countries in the not too distant past”. Iran will be before the UPR again in April 2019 for its 3rd cycle sessions. \nThe situation for LGBTI in Iran people is well illustrated in a 2014 interview recorded on the website 76 Crimes. Outright Action International have produced a series of reports on the situations of sexual and gender minorities in Iran, and keep an up to date archive of relevant information from the country. \nHowever, on 4 April 2014, Iran’s Supreme Leader described “homosexuality” as “moral bankruptcy” and “libidinous behaviour”. On 24 September 2014, the Iranian Speaker of Parliament described “homosexuality” as “modern Western barbarism”. The Supreme Council of National Security (SCNS) censored official journalists, forbidding them from covering certain topics including SOGIESC-related rights, in the name of ensuring national security. \nThe Committee on the Rights of the Child addressed Iran in February 2016. In line with civil society submissions, it spoke of being concerned with on-going discrimination of LGBTI children, and punishments of same-sex sexual behaviour of adolescents who are above the age of criminal responsibility “ranging from flogging to death penalty” [para. 31]. It also expressed concern that young people have no information on LGBTI issues, and trans people are forced into surgery [para.71], and urges reversal of such policies [para.72]. \nThese, and other, concerns were more fully elaborated in the Joint Submission at the Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, delivered by ARC-International in March 2016.","legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_1":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_2":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_3":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_4":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_5":null,"legal_code_ilga_comments_citation_6":null,"legal_code_scruff_comments":null,"prison_term_min_length":null,"prison_term_max_length":null,"prison_term_notes":null,"prison_term_not_specified":true,"prison_term_years":null,"prison_term_life":null,"prison_term_mandatory":null,"fine_min_amount":null,"fine_max_amount":null,"fine_currency":null,"fine_notes":null,"fine_not_specified":null,"fine_amount":null,"fine_mandatory":null,"penalty_death":false,"penalty_death_notes":null,"penalty_corporal_punishment":true,"penalty_corporal_punishment_notes":null,"penalty_hard_labor":null,"penalty_hard_labor_notes":null,"penalty_banishment":null,"legal_code_explicitly_references_same_sex_acts":true,"legal_code_explicitly_references_acts_against_nature":null,"legal_code_differentiates_anal_sex_from_other_acts":true,"legal_code_indicates_hiv_as_aggravating_factor":null,"legal_code_indicates_age_of_consent_homosexual_acts_over_18":null,"existing_laws_used_to_target_gays_but_not_anti_gay":null,"islamic_sharia_law":true,"islamic_sharia_law_notes":"Islamic Sharia Law in Iran is believed to be applied equally to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.","laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction":null,"laws_subregional_variance_or_contradiction_notes":null,"laws_not_specifically_homophobic":null,"laws_status_unclear":null,"laws_status_unclear_notes":null,"persecution_non_state_agents":null,"criminalization_under_consideration":null,"recently_decriminalized":null,"propaganda_law_under_consideration":null,"propaganda_law_title":null,"propaganda_law_title_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_body":null,"propaganda_law_body_citation_1":null,"propaganda_law_ilga_comments":null,"legal_developments_2023_2024_summary":"Continues to criminalise under the Islamic Penal Code (2013), with documented state enforcement against same-sex conduct and against human-rights defenders/bloggers, particularly amid post-2022 protest-related crackdowns.","legal_developments_2023_2024_citations":"ILGA World, Laws On Us: A Global Overview of Legal Progress and Backtracking on SOGIESC, 1st Ed. (Geneva, May 2024), p.52.","status_change_type":"Unchanged (enforcement update only)"}