Iran scraps mandatory death penalty for ‘apostates’

TEHRAN, Iran — A member of Iran’s parliament reportedly revealed that the country’s parliamentary committee has stricken the mandatory death penalty for those who leave Islam from proposals for an amended penal code. Citing a British Broadcasting Corp. Persian news service report, United Kingdom-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide announced June 26 that a member of Iran’s Legal and Judicial Committee of Parliament, Ali Shahrokhi, had told the Iranian state news agency of the decision to eliminate the mandatory death penalty amendment.

The committee had come under intense international pressure to drop clauses from the Islamic Penal Code Bill that allowed stoning and made death the mandatory punishment for apostates. Joseph Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, said the timing of the announcement of the decision during protests over contested elections might not be coincidental. “Were the regime to maintain (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad’s presidency and then pass and enforce a restrictive penal code, the international pressure on Iran would be unbearable for the regime,” Grieboski said.