In recent years, the significant increase in laws and executions in Iran, especially after the recent nationwide protests, has raised deep questions about the social, political, and ideological function of this punishment in the Islamic Republic. This essay seeks to analyze execution not only as a means of criminal punishment, but also as a mechanism for the production and exercise of power. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theories of sovereign power and biopower, and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, this essay demonstrates how the judicial institutions and media of the Islamic Republic reproduce execution within the framework of religious and legal legitimacy. This analysis, based on data and reports from human rights organizations, presents a documentary and critical portrayal of the link between structural violence, political order, and social exclusion.

Execution in the Islamic Republic, contrary to popular belief, is not just a judicial response to serious crimes, but has increasingly become a tool for displaying power, suppressing disobedience, and reproducing political order. In 2024, according to a report by Amnesty International, more than 972 people have been executed in Iran; a statistic that puts this country – especially in relation to its population – at the top of the global list. Executions that have taken place after widespread protests are evidence of the government’s blatant use of judicial violence to socially deter and create public fear. These executions are often carried out in processes that lack minimum standards of fair trial; processes such as forced confessions, closed and secret trials, lack of choice of lawyer, and rushed verdicts.

Michel Foucault, in his book “Surveillance and Punishment”, traces the transformation of forms of punishment from public torture to the biological control of humans. According to him, in punishments such as execution, the ruling power asserts its authority by openly depriving individuals of their lives. Therefore, execution is not just a means of eliminating a person, but also a tool for managing fear in society. In the political and social context of Iran, executions can be seen as a tool for displaying the ruling power; a tool that is used in critical moments – such as popular protests, economic crises, or legitimacy crises – to reproduce a type of performative order; an order in which disobedient bodies are separated from obedient bodies and ultimately eliminated. Depriving individuals of the right to life becomes a “powerful” action; an action that is intended to reproduce social control through fear and silence.

Pierre Bourdieu uses the symbolic concept of violence to analyze a category of violence that is presented as “legal” or “natural” through cultural, legal, or religious mechanisms. In Iran, many executions are introduced by official institutions not as acts of violence, but as the implementation of divine justice, religious laws, or a response to social needs. This process reproduces state violence through religious concepts such as retribution, punishment, and limits. The continuous repetition of these concepts in official media, judicial institutions, and government sermons has turned execution into a part of the public discourse of “justice.” This violence is shielded from criticism and protest with the symbolic support of religious institutions.

The process of elimination in the Islamic Republic is not limited to physical execution. Groups such as Baha’is, Dervishes, political prisoners, women activists, and ethnic minorities, even if not executed, are deprived of their “social right to life”. This symbolic elimination takes the form of exile, employment restrictions, removal from media, and social ostracism. Here, one can use the term “breathing without presence”: a life without voice, role, and rights. In this way, elimination is linked to Foucault’s theory of “biopower”: a system that exerts its power not only through death, but also through controlling the quality of life and social participation of citizens.

One of the central issues in analyzing executions in Iran is its link to the specific interpretation of religion by the Islamic Republic. While Islamic teachings emphasize mercy, justice, and human dignity in many cases, the structure of the government’s jurisprudence, through selective use of concepts such as limits and retribution, portrays a harsh image of religion. Here, we are faced with fundamental questions: Can a reading of religion (Islam) be presented that is in line with the principles of human rights and human dignity? Is judicial violence in the Islamic Republic merely a result of political needs disguised by religious justifications, or does it have roots in the interpretive structure of jurisprudence?

As a result, execution in Iran today cannot be simply seen as a simple and independent judicial event; these sentences are part of a complex structure of power, suppression, and social elimination that have turned into a tool for displaying authority, justifying violence, and imposing symbolic control over society. Considering the impact of political and economic crises, as well as the use of religious concepts as tools, it can be said that execution in the Islamic Republic is more than just a response to crime; it is a tool for ensuring the survival of government power. It could be summarized as: “The disease that has paralyzed and trapped politics is the lack of love and benevolence.”

Notes:

1. Amnesty International. (2024).

   There is no specific Farsi text provided, so here is a general translation:

   محکومیت های اعدام و اعدام ها 2023

   Death sentences and executions 2023.

   منشورات منظمه العفو الدولیه

   Amnesty International Publications

2. Bourdieu, P. (1977).

   The basic principles of a theory of practice.

   “Cambridge University Press” (Translated by R. Nice)

3. Bourdieu, P. (1991).

   زبان و قدرت نمادین

   Language and symbolic power.

   (J. B. Thompson, Editor; G. Raymond & M. Adamson, Translators). Harvard University Press.

4. Foucault, M. (1995).

   تنبیه و مجازات: تولد زندان

   Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison.

   (A. Sheridan, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1975).

   This is a citation for a book translated by A. Sheridan and published by Vintage Books in 1975.

5. اداره حقوق بشر سازمان ملل متحد. (2023).

   United Nations Human Rights Office. (2023).

   This is a report on the current state of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

   The text is a reference to a document titled “A/HRC/53/23” from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

   OHCHR stands for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights..