The Islamic Republic enforces its interpretation of Sharia Law through several overlapping institutions:

• The Gasht-e Ershad (morality police) and regular police patrol public spaces and enforce dress and behavior rules.
• The Basij monitors neighborhoods, schools, and universities and reports violations or dissent.
• THE IRGC oversees internal security and suppresses unrest.
• Clerical networks and pro-regime civilians also report behavior considered un-Islamic under the doctrine of “enjoining good and forbidding wrong.”

Together, these bodies form a nationwide system regulating public conduct, speech, and political activity. Depending on the alleged violation, penalties can include:

• Arrest
• Interrogation
• Imprisonment
• Sexual assault in detention
• Flogging
• Travel bans
• Asset confiscation
• Stoning
• Execution by hanging

POLITICAL DISSENT:

Because religious authority forms the foundation of the political system, opposition is treated as a national security offense rather than a political disagreement. Penalties can include:

• Arrest without transparent trial or legal representation
• Forced confessions under torture or duress
• Starvation and prolonged isolation
• Sexual violence in detention, including gang rape

Sexual assault and gang Rape is justified within the regime’s prison system. Senior cleric Hossein-Ali Montazeri documented that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini justified the rape of virgin female prisoners before execution on the grounds that virgins executed by the state would otherwise enter heaven.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMVQcQWVoZU

Numerous survivor testimonies, together with reporting by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, continue to document rape during interrogations and coercive “temporary marriages” imposed on detainees.
1. https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/22/iran-security-forces-rape-torture-detainees
2. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/iran-security-forces-used-rape-and-other-sexual-violence-to-crush-woman-life-freedom-uprising-with-impunity/

Charges such as moharebeh (“enmity against God”) or “corruption on earth” can carry the death penalty, often by public hanging. Because dissent is treated as opposition to God, these charges are frequently used without meaningful legal defense or due process against protesters, activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens.

For a full list of those who have been executed this year, or are in danger of imminent execution, visit www.humaninchain.com