Sharia law forms the basis of Iran’s legal system and is enforced through courts, police, and state security institutions. It regulates religion, education, gender roles, personal attire, relationships, cultural expression, and daily public behavior nationwide.

The public practice of religions outside the state’s interpretation of Shia Islam can result in persecution, detention, exclusion from education or employment, and, in some cases, execution.

Gender segregation between women and men is enforced across public spaces, including schools and hospitals. Hijab is legally mandatory for women in public. Women are prohibited from singing solo in public before mixed audiences. Relationships before marriage are criminalized, and people are not permitted to have boyfriends or girlfriends. Music and cultural expression are subject to state censorship. Only male artists can make music with state permission. Alcohol is banned nationwide. Pork consumption is prohibited. Dogs are considered religiously impure, and walking them in public can result in fines, arrest, or confiscation.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS

Women are assigned reduced legal status in several areas of law:

• Inheritance shares are generally half those of male relatives.
• In most court proceedings, a woman’s testimony counts as half that of a man.
• Financial compensation for injury or death (diyah) has historically differed between men and women.
• Fathers are recognized as primary legal guardians of children past the age of seven.
• Husbands can restrict a wife’s ability to obtain a passport or travel abroad.
• Men may legally marry up to four permanent wives. Women cannot.
• Men may also enter temporary marriage contracts (sigheh), which can last from hours to years and do not provide the same legal protections as permanent marriage. Women do not have equivalent rights. As a result, relationships that are legal for men can be treated as adultery for women.
• Adultery is a criminal offense punishable by flogging or death by stoning.
• In certain circumstances, Iranian law provides reduced criminal liability for a husband who kills his wife if she is caught in the act of adultery. This includes if a married woman is raped.
• Iranian law places an extremely heavy burden of proof on rape victims and can expose them to punishment if they fail to prove coercion. This includes minors.

CHILDREN’S RIGHTS

Girls as young as 13 can legally consent to marriage in Iran. With a father’s permission and court approval, marriages involving girls as young as 9 are permitted.

In Tahrir al-Wasila, Ruhollah Khomeini ruled what still stands. Intercourse with a girl before the age of nine lunar years was not permitted, but other forms of sexual contact, including touching, embracing, and rubbing the thighs, were allowed.

Children grow up within an education system shaped by state religious ideology. Examples include:

• Religious instruction based on Islamic law is compulsory in schools.
• Compulsory political chanting in some schools, including slogans such as “Death to America,” “Death to Israel,” and “Death to England.”
• Political loyalty is promoted through state-linked youth organizations.
• Minors can be detained, prosecuted, and, in some cases, executed for participating in protests.
• From the age of 15, children can be treated as legally responsible adults in parts of the criminal justice system.
• Children as young as twelve, as well as teenagers, may be recruited into the Basij or the IRGC. This is currently happening in Iran. 

LGBTQ RIGHTS

Iranian authorities describe same-sex relationships as a “moral deviation” or “mental illness” rather than a recognized identity.

Under the Islamic Penal Code, consensual same-sex relations between men can carry punishments including flogging, imprisonment, or execution. Same-sex relations between women are also criminalized and punishable by 100 lashes under Article 238 of the Islamic Penal Code.

Despite these laws, U.S. intelligence briefings in 2026 reportedly raised unverified allegations about the sexuality of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, highlighting the contrast between the regime’s severe penalties for same-sex relations and longstanding reports of private behavior within elite clerical circles.
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/irans-incoming-supreme-leader-may-gay-intelligence-claims-country-where-homosexuality-1785973