Murder in the Islamic Penal Code

Murder is divided into three categories in the Islamic Penal Code adopted in 2013:

1-Premeditated murder

According to Article 290 of the Islamic Penal Code of 2013, which defines premeditated murder in 4 paragraphs and 2 notes. According to this article, 4 cases for premeditated murder can be considered:

A) The person intends to kill the victim, whether the act or deed of the perpetrator is deadly or not, in which case only the intention to kill is important, and the action of person A must be lethal mystics.

B) A person commits an act or behavior that is mystical or deadly and leads to murder without the intention of killing the victim and it is very common in street fights that is important to the lethality of his action.

C) The perpetrator does not intend to kill another, nor is his behavior and action mystical fatal, but because the victim has a special condition such as illness, old age, etc., or for a specific place or time, is traditionally fatal and causes death.

The principle is based on the perpetrator’s lack of knowledge and awareness of the specific situation of the victim and it must be proved that the perpetrator knew the specific situation of the victim and doing so would lead to his death, otherwise the murder was not intentional.

D) The perpetrator intends to commit a crime without being targeted by a specific person or group. Eventually, the intended crime or similar such as a bombing in a public place occurs.

Punishment for premeditated murder

The legislature has established two types of punishment for premeditated murder:

A- Retribution

The first and most severe punishment for premeditated murder is retribution, which according to Article 381 of the Islamic Penal Code adopted in 2013, the punishment for premeditated murder at the request of the guardian and other conditions provided by law, is retribution.

B- Ransom

If the parents agree, instead of retribution, the blood money will be replaced. According to the Islamic Penal Code, the ransom must be paid to the parents within one lunar year. In this case, the judge can sentence the killer to 3 to 10 years in prison.

2-The crime of quasi-premeditated murder

According to Article 291, quasi-premeditated murder has three modes:

A) The perpetrator intends to behave towards the victim but does not intend to commit the crime. This case is a well-known and obvious example of unintentional murder. In intentional crimes, criminal behavior must lead to the result and the perpetrator, in addition to the intent of the criminal behavior, also intends to achieve the result, but if there is only the intent of the criminal behavior, it is considered unintentional murder.

B) The perpetrator intended to kill the victim, and his behavior is not traditionally fatal, but he is ignorant of the subject. For example, person A intended to behave towards an animal or object, but later it turns out that he is as wrong and the subject is in fact a human being and not an object or animal. It is as if the hunter thinks that the black man in the distance is an animal and shoots at him, but it turns out that he is a human being.

C) The perpetrator is guilty and this guilt may be due to carelessness, negligence or non-compliance with the rules and lack of skills, and here the perpetrator does not intend to kill, nor is his behavior traditionally fatal. For example, car accidents.

Punishment for quasi-premeditated murder

Due to the unintentional nature of the punishment of retaliation, it is abolished.

3- The crime of unintentional manslaughter

In unintentional manslaughter, the perpetrator had neither the intention nor the intention to act on the victim. It is as if a person drops an arrow to hunt and hits someone and kills the person.

Therefore, because the perpetrator made a mistake both in the act and in the intention, in case of murder, such a murder is called a mistake murder. The following are examples of pure mistake murders:

A) Murder by a child (unintentional)

B) Murder while sleeping or anesthetized

C) Murder by a immature and insane

D) Committing a crime due to a mistake and error of a person: It is as if a person leaves an arrow to hunt but hits a human.

Note: in cases (a) and (c), whenever the perpetrator is aware and realizes that his behavior typically causes a crime against another, it is considered a crime of premeditated murder.

If you have any questions about the types of murder in the Islamic Penal Code and its provisions, or if you need guidance in preparing and implementing its provisions, our experienced counselors and lawyers at the Asia Lawyers Group will answer your questions.