About 300 years ago, Francois Voltaire, one of the famous philosophers of the Enlightenment era, believed: “There must be a distinction between sin and crime.” Just looking at articles 114 to 119 of the Islamic Penal Code, which was passed in 2013, and the guidelines for repentance that were recently announced by the head of the judiciary, we can compare them to the words of this great philosopher and see how far behind the laws of the Islamic Republic are compared to the Enlightenment movement after centuries.

“Repentance” is a religious term that, with relatively similar definitions, is used in the three Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) – voluntarily or by force – to make up for the not-so-serious crimes committed by a repentant criminal or baseless accusations of religious and political beliefs. In Judaism, it is defined as returning to God and seeking forgiveness, in Christianity it is defined as turning away from sin and moving towards God, and in Islam it is defined as seeking forgiveness from God and turning away from sin.

This concept is used in other religious beliefs, in the form of collective rituals, with the aim of seeking forgiveness for committed sins and achieving salvation in the eyes of God; such as the Hindu practice of bathing in the Ganges river to wash away sins, the festival of Kumbh Mela, or the Jewish ritual of Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement and return to God. Collective repentance, usually done voluntarily and without political or social pressure, can promote national and religious solidarity and strengthen a sense of unity in cultural values and norms, as well as enhance social cohesion.

According to the author, repentance can be divided into three types: “religious repentance”, “civil repentance”, and “political repentance”, which must be recognized and prevented from merging. In the religious sense, repentance is the return from sin to God and a spiritual state between man and God. According to religious promises, repentance will prevent the execution of punishment and torment in the afterlife. This form of repentance is divided into two constructive and destructive parts. Civil repentance is an agreement between individuals, not because of a sense of sin, but as a result of committing a crime, which is examined in a fair court. This method is a process for reducing violence in society and can help improve social conditions and ultimately help the individual return to a normal life. The third type is political repentance or “reconciliation”. Dictatorships use this destructive tool to break down the personalities of critics and opponents, using false accusations and under pressure of imprisonment and torture. This text

Sin and crime.

Crime is a non-proprietary legal and conceptual term that refers to behaviors that are explicitly prohibited by law. However, sin refers to behaviors that are contrary to divine and religious commands and wishes. A criminal, if convicted, is held accountable by the legislator, but a sinner must answer to God.

Sometimes the word “sin” is used instead of “crime” in court. However, in court, sin means breaking the law, not disobeying religious orders. The legislator determines the punishment for the criminal, while the punishment for the sinner is determined by God. The word “sin” is also used in human relationships and interactions, in a way that a person may feel guilty towards their conscience and for emotional reasons, due to their behavior or thoughts towards another person. Repentance in this type of human relationships means that the person has become aware of their mistake and is committed to not repeating it.

Voluntary and compulsory repentance.

Expressing regret for past actions and seeking forgiveness and overall positive repentance, even based on religious beliefs, can play an important role in social growth and cultural values, with the goal of creating harmony and unity in society. However, forced repentance, under threat and torture, such as what happened in the Inquisition courts in the Middle Ages for dissenters and so-called “heretics”, or the repentance of political prisoners under the torture of dictatorial regimes to neutralize and break the will of political opponents, has a destructive, devastating and divisive role in the cultural and social dimension, leading to division, pessimism, despair, and hatred.

Civil repentance.

Civil repentance is an agreement between individuals and means to guide criminals and victims through civil methods. Admitting to a crime or accepting it in the modern judicial system provides an opportunity for the court to show flexibility towards the guilty individual. This allows the criminal to reintegrate into society and continue a normal life, while also providing a less costly way to recover for the individual who has intentionally or unintentionally committed a crime and now realizes their mistake. This approach is one of the ways to improve society and reduce violence. In this process, repentance can be seen as a process of self-reflection, remorse, and personal growth that helps reduce violence, peacefully solve community problems, promote accountability and civic understanding, and ultimately, the spiritual, emotional, and mental well-being of the community can serve as an inspiration for similar cases and lead to a transition from individual problems to the reduction of similar social problems.

Religious and political repentance.

Dictatorships try to force their political and ideological goals by accusing and pressuring their opponents and critics – individuals who may not have committed any crimes – and forcing them to repent. The result of this forced repentance is to silence and suppress society, destroy solidarity, break the spirit of justice, discourage people, create despair and frustration, pessimism and division, and ultimately control society. Political repentance, through forced confession, aims to destroy the accused political figure and, in addition to creating negative personal and social consequences, is used to isolate and silence critics and protesters, to the point where the accused may never be able to return to a normal, fear-free life.

For example, in order to unify religion and through the process of inquisition or inspection of beliefs in the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, the religious authorities would torture dissenters until they confessed against themselves. This confession was the only way for dissenters to escape punishment. In these trials, the individual had not committed a crime, but rather held a different interpretation of the Bible – contrary to what the Church claimed – or presented scientific ideas that went against the text of the Gospel. The Catholic Church used this method to label many scientists as deviants and heretics and burned them at the stake. The goal of the Church’s inquisition trials was to eliminate the “deviants” from the Christian faith. The religious authorities would subject them to destructive tortures to force them to change their understanding of the orders and teachings of the Catholic Church, or else they would have to accept death. Today, similar methods can be seen in “Taliban courts.”

“Repentance” in the prisons of the Islamic Republic is also another form of political-religious repentance. This punitive method, which has a less remembered history, is a tearful story. If we accept that repentance, with a traditional, religious, civil, and legal perspective, leads to cultural advancement and social cohesion, political repentance will lead to extreme violence, imprisonment, hatred, division, pessimism, animosity, and blatant crimes in dictatorial regimes. Repentance, when accompanied by politics infused with violent and vengeful religious ideologies, opens the path to crime. What crime is greater than forcing someone under torture to confess to a crime they did not commit, or forcing them to confess against their comrades, colleagues, and allies, or shooting their friend under pressure from interrogators to prove the authenticity of their repentance – even though their friend may not have committed a crime? These deliberate crimes, stemming from flawed religious ideologies, absolute thinking, and the lack of

The dominant method of punishment in the prisons of the Islamic Republic in the 1960s was the policy of repentance. Political prisoners were subjected to a brutal process by interrogators in order to force them to confess to false accusations and ultimately repent or accept the death penalty. In many cases, torture was not carried out for the purpose of repentance, but rather as a means for the dictator to carry out inhumane acts and destroy opponents without evidence or a fair trial.

The history of Iran remembers the scenes of excruciating forced gatherings and humiliating treatment of political prisoners in the Evin prison’s assembly hall, accompanied by eulogies and terrifying threats from executioners such as Sadegh Khalkhali, Assadollah Lajevardi, and Mohammad Gilani. These sick executioners took pleasure in torment, humiliation, punishment, torture, and killing of human beings. These inhumane behaviors were not only for the forced repentance of individuals in prison, but also to create fear and terror among prisoners and society. Religious judges in prisons were the instigators of these executioners, who had no trace of knowledge of justice and humanity. They sat on the throne of judgment from the pulpit and eulogies, their existence filled with hatred and grudges, using the ancient traditions inherited from their Islam, they executed thousands of young people who were seeking to build a better society and resist and protest against the oppression, deceit, and lies

Social consequences.

Social integration and cohesion, along with strengthening positive cultural values, can be considered long-term goals of voluntary repentance. When a person confesses to their mistakes and seeks forgiveness, it can pave the way for reconciliation and bonds within the family and society. This means reducing conflicts and tensions within society, leading to greater peace in the community.

In modern societies, the judicial system establishes laws that make it possible for criminals and wrongdoers to return to society. They give individuals who regret their actions and feel guilty towards others the opportunity to confess to their crimes and prepare to return to society in the rehabilitation process. Legal punishments in modern society are meant to deter, reform, and compensate the community, not to destroy individuals. The goal is to reduce the prevalence of crime in society by examining its causes and factors. Modern punishment laws give criminals the chance to receive education, continue their studies, or learn a skill while in prison so that they can become productive members of society after their release. In this way, repentance becomes a tool to shorten the time a person who is ready to rejoin society spends in confinement. This method also reduces the cost for governments to keep criminals in prison.

Cultural consequences.

In addition to its impact on the individual, voluntary repentance can have a profound effect on culture and social relationships. This includes positive and negative aspects of moral values, repairing damage to society, strengthening collective bonds and promoting cultural norms, promoting unity and solidarity in society around the rule of law and civil relations, maintaining social balance and justice by providing the opportunity for the return and acceptance of the criminal individual to society in the future by paying material and moral penalties.

Reducing conflict and violence, increasing the spirit of peaceful resolution of differences, respect for differences, well-being and promotion of spiritual, emotional and inspirational growth, encourages others to follow the path of repentance, growth and positive transformation. Repentance repairs relationships, heals wounds, promotes forgiveness and overall enhances spiritual, emotional and psychological values.