Article 183 of the Islamic Penal Code defines moharebeh as the use of “weapons to cause terror and fear or to breach public security and freedom.” In practice, many defendants in moharebeh cases are deprived of access to an attorney.
Testimony from hundreds of former defendants in Iran’s system of Revolutionary Courts, where moharebeh cases are prosecuted, confirms that guilt and sentencing in such cases is typically determined by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence before the trials even start.
In previous years, political prisoners known for peaceful activism have been executed on charges of moharebeh. The 21 cases reported last year represent a relative increase over previous years. Although the Iranian judiciary rarely shares the unvarnished details of these cases with the public, it is clear that several members of political parties based in Iran’s Kurdish region were among those executed for moharebeh in 2015.
