Those Who Love Death/ Arash Mohammadi

I.I was a child—perhaps ten years old. I can’t recall my exact age, but I vividly remember walking past the Baqi Cemetery when I heard a scream. A man and a woman were about to be stoned to death. Out of curiosity, I stopped to watch. The problem was that although a large crowd had […]...

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The Theater and the Soul: Foucault’s Unflinching Gaze at the Spectacle of Execution/ Afshin Davoudi

Speaking of public executions evokes a primal image: a crowd gathered in a square, a platform bathed in sunlight or shadow, and the haunting silhouette of the condemned. A scene that feels both ancient and profoundly disturbing. Most modern objections to this practice are based on human rights principles, empathy, and a deep revulsion triggered […]...

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The Psychological Impact of Witnessing Public Executions on Children and Adolescents/ Mahtab Alinejad

On a cold winter morning, in the heavy silence of a city square, a crowd gathers to witness the public execution of a condemned individual. The murmurs of the crowd and the hurried steps of the guards ripple through the air. A 4- or 5-year-old child, puffed corn snack in hand, stands next to his […]...

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Killing Innocence at Dawn: A Public Execution/ Fereshteh Goli

As the sharp, cold morning wind swept autumn leaves across the cobbled alleyways of the city, a dense, silent crowd had gathered in the main square. Their breath turned into small clouds in the freezing air, merging into one another. Among the crowd stood women whose eyes reflected waves of fear, worry, and anxiety, and […]...

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Law or Verdict? A Criminal Law Critique of Public Executions/ Mohammad-Hadi Jafarpoor

According to the rule of law, the necessity of implementing and enforcing laws is essential to the life of a social system. Even thieves and murderers believe in the necessity of enforcing the law and respecting legal rulings, and it is precisely because of this awareness that they feel fear and anxiety when committing a […]...

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From Cheap Death to Contemporary Scaffolds/ Reza Harisi

Public execution—a phenomenon in which the final moments of a human being’s life are put on public display—goes beyond mere punishment and, in Marcel Mauss’s terms, constitutes a “total social fact” that encompasses all dimensions of a society’s life (legal, political, religious, economic, ethical, and cultural). While the global trend in the modern era has […]...

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Public Execution: Reproduction of Violence Instead of Deterrence/ Toutia Partovi Amoli

Public execution is a punishment that, in some societies, has been used as a tool aimed at deterring crime and instilling fear. Nevertheless, according to statistical studies and scientific findings, carrying out punishment in public not only has no significant effect on reducing violent crime rates but also leads to the normalization and reproduction of […]...

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Why Should Public Execution Be Abolished?/ Neda Ghanbari

A thorough examination of historical experiences, human rights principles, and findings from psychology and criminology clearly indicates that public execution not only lacks any deterrent effect but also carries profound social, psychological, and moral consequences for society. Although some proponents view public execution as a tool for creating fear and reducing crime, in practice, it […]...

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Femicide in Iran and the World: Revisiting the Intersection of Gender, the State, and Structural Violence/ Elahe Amani

Femicide, the killing of women because of their gender, is one of the most extreme forms of gender-based violence. At its core, femicide stems from deeply rooted and long-standing patriarchal and misogynistic systems in which women’s lives are considered inferior and expendable, and the exercise of control over them is normalized. When women defy social […]...

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Cultural Nationalism and Collective Memory in Iran/ Mina Javani

Collective memory in societies grappling with political crises and repressive structures functions not merely as a recollection of the past, but as a space for cultural resistance, redefinition of social identity, and advocacy for human rights. In contemporary Iran, the representation of national symbols—ranging from flags and cultural rituals to patriotic poetry and music—has taken […]...

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Breaking Taboos or Reproducing Vulgarity?/ Pardis Parsa

These days, few Iranians have not heard of the internet show Eshgh-e Abadi (“Eternal Love”). A group of young Iranian migrants gathers in a seaside villa in Turkey to choose a partner or lover from among each other. They compete, and their daily routines generate content that draws astonishing numbers of views online. The show’s […]...

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Book introduction: I am a common pain.

My Common Pain is a literary account of the collective experience of a generation that culminated in the “Women, Life, Freedom” uprising in 1401. In this work, the author has not sought to provide accurate and documented historiography, nor a mere retelling of events; rather, by using a fictional narrative, he has attempted to recreate […]...

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