Iran | Man convicted on Sharia's "Judge Knowledge" due to lack of evidence hanged after family failed to raise blood money

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); October 16, 2024: Younes Akhtar Samar, a man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) based on elme-qazi and a qassameh ceremony due to the lack of evidence against him, was executed in Jiroft Prison after his family failed to raise the €300k blood money.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was hanged in Jiroft Prison on 14 October. His identity has been established as Younes Akhtar Samar who was sentenced to qisas based on elm-e-qazi (knowledge of the judge) and a qassameh ceremony.

An informed source told IHRNGO: “There wasn’t enough evidence against Younes in the case so they sentenced him to death based on elm-e-qazi and qassameh. He had five children and the victim’s family demanded 20 billion tomans as diya which Younes’ family couldn’t afford.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

According to the Islamic Penal Code, when there is no confession or witness testimony in a case, the judge can make a decision based on his exclusive opinion, without any reference to laws and codes. This is known as elm-e-qazi or “knowledge of the judge.” The law requires that rulings based on a judge’s “knowledge” derive from evidence, including circumstantial evidence, and not merely personal belief that the defendant is guilty of the crime. However, there have been cases where elm-e-qazi has been arbitrarily applied. For instance, in December 2007, Makwan Moloudzadeh was executed for sodomy charges based on the “knowledge of the judge”.

Qassameh, or a sworn oath, is another way of proving guilt for a crime (murder or injury) in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). Where there is insufficient evidence in cases of qisas, but the judge still has doubts either because he believes the victim to be guilty or due to circumstantial evidence, he can declare los, insufficient evidence of guilt. In such an event, the victim or victim’s next of kin have the right to qassameh. Qassameh is based on swearing an oath on the Quran by a certain number of the victim’s family. In murder cases, 50 male members of the victim’s family are required to make a qassameh. It is important to note that the people who swear in qassameh ceremonies are not required to be and are not usually direct witnesses to the crime.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness. Crucially, while an indicative amount is set by the Judiciary every year, there is no legal limit to how much can be demanded by families of the victims. IHRNGO has recorded many cases where defendants are executed because they cannot afford to pay the blood money.

In 2023, at least 282 people including two juvenile offenders and 15 women, were executed for murder charges, the second highest number of qisas executions since 2010. Only 20% of the recorded qisas executions were announced by official sources. In 2023, Iran Human Rights also recorded 857 cases of families choosing diya or forgiveness instead of qisas executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, October 16, 2024

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