Document Type : Academicm and Research

Authors

• Heidar Piri ¹
• Mehdi Hooshyar ²

¹ Assistant Professor of Public International Law, law Department, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran.

² Assistant Professor, law Department, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran.

Abstract

The Zemmah Contract is one of the institutions the origin of which goes back to the Jurisprudence Standards upon which human are legally divided into three categories; Muslims, Zemmah non-Muslims and non-Muslim. Meanwhile, the latter has no rights. Although there is no mention of the contract in the 1979 Constitution, but the Islamic Penal Code 2013 has established the contract in the Iranian penal system. This article seeks to answer the question: Does the Contract has any effect on the enjoyment of legal and natural rights of minorities from the perspective of international law in the one hand and Iranian legal system on the other? The other question is whether acceptance of the Zemmah contract can be in conflict with international human rights treaties or not? The main argument is that the Contract which is belonging to the cultural structures in traditional Islamic society and received the signature of Sharia law has fundamental differences with the structures of modern times. However, there are substantive and procedural conflicts between the Zemmah contract and human rights rules in protection of minorities which are based on the principle of equality, non-discrimination, the right to existence and preservation of cultural identity. Hence, it is necessary for the Legislator to terminate the Zemmah contract and its rulings in the next amendments of the Penal Code and apply international treaties rules to the minorities in accordance with Article 9 of the Civil Code which has the force of law.

Keywords

• Minority
• Ahl-e Zemmah
• The Zemmah Contract
• Jurisprudence Standards
• New Islamic Penal Code
• International Law

Main Subjects

• Legal (Comparative Islamic and Western Law)