Iran Expands Capital Punishment Framework in Post-War Era

In the aftermath of the 12-Day War between Iran and Israel, followed by the concurrent military conflict involving the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran’s penal statutes have undergone severe tightening. New criminal offenses have been added to statutory regulations, broadening the scope of criminally prosecutable acts and introducing significantly harsher penalties for existing security offenses.

The majority of execution sentences handed down during this timeframe have not been made available to the public, nor have the executions been officially announced. However, based on official statements by judicial authorities, a substantial portion of recent executions was carried out under legislation passed following the 12-Day War.

Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stated near the anniversary of the 12-Day War that at least 56 individuals were executed on national security charges during the four months following the outbreak of the US-Israel war, 27 of whom were linked to cases originating from nationwide protests earlier in the year.

As the Iranian regime fluctuates between responding to external military strikes and enforcing domestic suppression while grappling with the most severe financial constraints in the Islamic Republic’s history, legislative efforts to expand criminalization and facilitate treason charges against ordinary citizens continue unabated.

A panel of UN experts recently called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to immediately shelve a bill that criminalizes any contact between Iranian citizens and foreign individuals or entities. Furthermore, the UN International Fact-Finding Mission on Iran expressed horror over the draft legislation currently under review in the Iranian Parliament. Outside Iran, UN experts warned that the potential passage and implementation of this bill would amount to “severing Iranians from the international community.”

Legislation Expanding Death Penalty Scope

The most significant legislative act passed in Iran following the Israeli strike is the “Act on Intensifying Penalties for Espionage and Co-operation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States Against National Security and Interests.”

The significance of this law lies in its expansion of the concept of “co-operation with the enemy” far beyond classical espionage. Under specified conditions, intelligence, operational, military, economic, financial, technological, and certain forms of direct or indirect assistance have all been placed within the purview of security crimes.

In several instances, the prescribed penalties include execution and asset forfeiture, a significant expansion compared to penalties for similar offenses under prior legislation, granting revolutionary courts broader discretion to issue death sentences.

In other words, the fundamental shift lies not merely in the severity of espionage penalties, but in the expanded spectrum of conduct that can be prosecuted as “co-operation with the enemy,” directly increasing the probability of death sentences.

Executions Under Post-War Statutes

Under Iran’s revised statutes enacted over the past year, manufacturing, assembling, supplying, transferring, dealing in, transporting, possessing, importing, or operating drones, micro-aerial vehicles, and robotics for military, espionage, destructive, terrorist, or disruptive purposes with the intent to co-operate with the enemy can trigger maximum penalties.

This section reflects an intensification of penalties and the securitization of existing offenses rather than the criminalization of entirely novel behaviors; nevertheless, this dynamic has directly contributed to the rising rate of death sentences in Iran.

According to statements by the Iranian judiciary, dozens of individuals tried and executed in recent months on security charges were sentenced pursuant to the “Act on Intensifying Penalties for Espionage and Co-operation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States Against National Security and Interests.”

A similar trend is evident in the expansion of penalties for cyberattacks. Under the new statutes, conducting cyberattacks in co-operation with an enemy state carries penalties up to and including the death penalty.

Another shift impacting ordinary citizens is the enactment of legislation regulating remotely piloted aircraft, or civilian drones. The criminal relevance of this statute is that conduct previously governed by administrative or police regulations now carries criminal penalties, with the death penalty designated as the most severe sanction.

Elon Musk and the Islamic Republic’s Criminal Law

Among the most controversial aspects of the new legislation are provisions governing the dissemination and transmission of information. Sending video footage, images, or information to foreign networks, media outlets, or specific virtual pages can constitute a criminal offense if statutory criteria are met, particularly if the action is deemed to impact national security.

These provisions extend criminal liability, and potentially the death penalty, to the unauthorized use, transportation, possession, purchase, sale, and importation of satellite internet equipment, including Starlink terminals.

Article 5 of the “Act on Intensifying Penalties for Espionage and Co-operation with the Zionist Regime and Hostile States Against National Security and Interests” stipulates that “supplying, manufacturing, distributing, installing, activating, or importing with the intent to distribute” satellite internet equipment “for the purpose of opposing the system or committing espionage” may be classified as “Corruption on Earth” (Mofsed-e-fil-Arz), an offense punishable by death.

From this perspective, satellite internet represents a clear example of extending criminal law to target specific technologies in Iran’s post-war era.

Further Statutory Changes on the Horizon

Following an approximately five-month suspension initiated during the simultaneous US and Israeli strikes on Iran, the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Parliament) has resumed consideration of a single-urgency bill titled “International Crimes.” Prior to this, international crimes were not explicitly codified within Iranian statutory law.

The general framework of the bill has been approved by Parliament, and MPs are currently deliberating its detailed articles. Under one article already granted final approval, courts are mandated to apply the Islamic Penal Code alongside primary statutory penalties based on the characteristics of the perpetrator and the crime committed.

Given that the Islamic Penal Code provides for mandatory death penalties under Hudud and Qisas (retribution-in-kind) provisions, the final passage of the International Crimes Bill will further increase the number of capital punishment provisions in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The landscape of Iranian criminal law following the 12-Day War cannot be summarized merely as an “increase in penalties.” What has transpired is a systematic expansion of criminalized conduct, the creation of specialized legal classifications, and the escalation of penalties for existing offenses, all of which systematically expand the framework for issuing death sentences.

Source: iranwire.com, Faramarz Davar, September 7, 2026

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."
— Oscar Wilde

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