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Two Iranians Sentenced to Death for…Alcohol Consumption

Jun. 26, 2012 8:20am Sharona Schwartz

Alcohol confiscated (Photo from Iranvij via PBS)

Two Iranians were sentenced to death for the repeat offense of drinking alcohol, according to Iranian media reports. Since the 1979 revolution, the Islamic Republic has operated under Sharia law where consumption, production and sale of alcohol is illegal.

The Guardian provides more details from the Iranian press:

The two, who have not been named by the authorities, have each previously been lashed 160 times [80 times each] after twice being arrested for consuming alcohol. Being convicted for the third time makes them liable for the death penalty.

The head of the judiciary Seyed Hasan Shariati, based in Iran’s north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, told the semi-official Isna news agency that the supreme court had upheld their death sentences and that officials were preparing for their execution.

“Two people who committed the offence of consuming alcohol for the third time have been sentenced to be executed. The verdict has been confirmed by the supreme court and we are preparing to administer it,” he said.

Under Iranian Sharia law, certain crimes such as sodomy, rape, theft, fornication, apostasy and consumption of alcohol for the third time are considered to be “claims of God” and therefore have mandatory death sentences.

The Guardian explains — by comparison — that in non-alcohol related cases such as theft and lesbianism, capital punishment is handed out only if the individual is a previous offender and has been previously punished three times for the same crime. For alcohol, the death penalty can be considered on the third offense. Shariati, the head of the judiciary, says:

“We will not show mercy in alcoholic beverage offenses,” he said, “and we will sentence the offenders to the harshest letter of the law.”

Executions for violations of Iran’s alcohol laws are believed to be rare, according to Radio Free Europe. RFE quotes Iran’s Shargh newspaper which reports that the last death penalty handed down for a repeat offender in an alcohol case was in 2007. That sentence was overturned after the convict expressed contrition.

Despite the alcohol ban and extreme penalties, there is a reportedly active black market in Iran for these drinks. PBS reports that as many as 20 million gallons of alcohol are smuggled into the country every year and an unknown amount is produced in home distilleries.

According to The Guardian:

Despite the ban, many people in Iran drink alcohol, usually a homemade liquor called araq, which contains 45% pure ethanol. It is usually mixed before consumption and can be dangerous because of the ethanol used in its distillation.

Hosts who throw parties call an alcohol vendor who delivers it to the door. Western alcohol is smuggled to Iran and can be found in underground markets but can be costly.

Non-Muslim minorities in Iran including Christians are allowed to consume alcohol and use it in religious ritual, though must do so privately.

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Comments (69)

barber2
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:10am
Sharjah Law : the Muslim substitute for self-control.

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- Detroit paperboy
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:36am
  These people are frustrated in every sense of the word……no booze, no women in bikinis, no nothing…..no wonder theyre so angry all the time…….
  
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- G-WHIZ
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:12pm
  Yeh!! These-2 will NOT do that …again! I betcha! Wonder why they have no drunk-drivers?! Duh!
  
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- dmerwin
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 5:33pm
  “We do not have alcohol users or gays and this is how we make sure”.
  
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teddrunk
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:05am
Good thing the Kennedy’s were just your typical drunken Catholics. Heck, Old Joe made some of his fortune from it. Ted would of been dead several times over.

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- Verceofreason
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 5:10pm
  This world and America would be a better place today if George W Bush had remained
  a drunk and a cokie.
  
  Report this comment
Detroit paperboy
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:14am
Sounds like where mayor Bloomberg is headed……..

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Sloburn
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:11am
But smoking opium is ok, go figure.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:02am
  And 10 packs of cigarettes a day are hunky dory.
  
  Report this comment
Joyzee
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:09am
This Happens’ because Iranian people Let it Happen, where is there Revolution! the people must over throw this Radical clerical government Give them their own punishment.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:36am
  When you read about stuff like this, you would think a revolution could be a possibility. But then Egypt is heading the other direction. It’s a backwards part of the world, with exception of Israel who they all want to destroy.
  
  Report this comment
- Sidhekitten
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 3:13pm
  They tried, but we did them dirty, El Presidente preferred to support the vile bastards that have been in charge in Iran since 79. So, when Iran actually lets the missiles fly he will act surprised stating that he actually did not believe that they wanted to vaporize Isreal and us.
  
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momrules
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:09am
I would lay a wager that after the two men were condemned to death for alcohol consumption their judges went back to their offices and had a drink.

For most people in power their creed is *do as I tell you to do but I’ll do what I want to do.*

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- Gonzo
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 11:06am
  They are just following the example Mohamed set for them.
  
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barber2
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:09am
Guess Iran has a special religious One Step Program….

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pma_guy
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:06am
So what do we do about the beer summit??

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TROLLMONGER
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:03am
If the evangelicals and/or Mormons ran this country the same kind of punishment would be upheld.

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- Gonzo
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:02am
  You are a fool.
  
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- Nasado
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:30am
  Hmm, thats funny because it was Utahs vote that ended prohabition. But don’t let facts and history get in the way of your useless, ignorant little infintile mind trying to attack a belief system that you know absolutly nothing about.
  
  Report this comment
- OlderCowGirl
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:06pm
  Shows that you don’t know anything about Christians.
  
  Report this comment
- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 2:29pm
  Attention whore.
  
  Report this comment
- jnw325
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 4:30pm
  Hard to believe that a sane adult would come up with that remark… where do you get your fact? please state your case, make your point. Or is it just easy to make stupid remarks with no substance?
  
  Report this comment
- Vader234
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 4:47pm
  @ Trollmonger
  
  “If the evangelicals and/or Mormons ran this country the same kind of punishment would be upheld.”
  
  Romney is a Mormon so are you going to vote for Obama? Paul can’t win.
  (Oh and we Mormons don’t kill people for drinking)
  
  Report this comment
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:49am
The future of America if Obama has his way.

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- Verceofreason
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 5:13pm
  That makes absolutely zero sense. He drinks on the WH lawn.
  Go away.
  
  Report this comment
BlazeGlory
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:44am
What a waste of life. They could have endeavored to reach for something much greater in Iranian culture, like being suicide bombers.

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- DIVINEPROVIDENCE1776
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 9:01am
  The majority of the Iranian people love America and the western way of life. It is their tyrannical government who are the psychos, like the US. I pray for the Iranian people and their freedom.
  
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- G-WHIZ
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 12:18pm
  This is also a good way for them,to [not] need hospitalization or ‘Bama-type” insurance. You wat insrance….CHOP—PLOP!….oops!……NEXT?!.
  
  Report this comment
chnswstr
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:43am
See? the burqua will come in handy! The women can keep their drinking under wraps.

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Sleeve
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:43am
What a terrible excuse of a religion islam is. Every one that i have ever met that is islamic is well off their rockers…. Islam is murder! Just give then a reason!

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Preparing for civil Unrest
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:43am
After working last night I shall consume some beer for mu fellow muslim brothers.Jesus made wine :) and I feel bad for the good people of Iran who do not have the right to choose.

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philipzhao
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:42am
No alcohol in White House !

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13th Imam
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:42am
Let’s send Jack and Bud and Jim and Miller to Iran. It would be cheaper than bomb’s.

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biohazard23
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:40am
Wow. Don’t let Mayor Gloomberg get any ideas from this. After all, this is just the Iranian govt forcing the populace into knowing what’s good for them and what isn’t.

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KidCharlemagne
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:36am
Not all that dissimilar to what the federal government did during the 13 years of Prohibition:

———————————————————–
The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences

Deborah Blum
Friday, Feb. 19, 2010

It was Christmas Eve 1926, the streets aglitter with snow and lights, when the man afraid of Santa Claus stumbled into the emergency room at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. He was flushed, gasping with fear: Santa Claus, he kept telling the nurses, was just behind him, wielding a baseball bat.

Before hospital staff realized how sick he was—the alcohol-induced hallucination was just a symptom—the man died. So did another holiday partygoer. And another. As dusk fell on Christmas, the hospital staff tallied up more than 60 people made desperately ill by alcohol and eight dead from it. Within the next two days, yet another 23 people died in the city from celebrating the season.

Doctors were accustomed to alcohol poisoning by then, the routine of life in the Prohibition era. The bootlegged whiskies and so-called gins often made people sick. The liquor produced in hidden stills frequently came tainted with metals and other impurities. But this outbreak was bizarrely different. The deaths, as investigators would shortly realize, came courtesy of the U.S. government.”
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2010/02/the_chemists_war.singl

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USPATRIOT101
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:33am
You can beat the crap out of your woman, just don’t do it with a cool one in your hand.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:32am
And the same mentality that’s going to execute those men are now running Egypt,see what you can look forward to Egyptians?

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- philipzhao
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:39am
  Who has the stick now to turn the Nile red ?
  
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lqtm
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:29am
Keep all religion out of law.

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- Fubared
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:54am
  Keep shariah and liberalism in the asylum where it belongs. Together at last.
  
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- teddrunk
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:28am
  Keep Muslims out of America.
  
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thegreatcarnac
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:27am
Well….I guess getting a rum and coke in Tehran is out of the question.

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lqtm
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:27am
That’s theocracy for you. Keep America secular.

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- Fubared
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:51am
  Ain’t that what democracy looks like? Need to send in the rainbow coalition with a bunch of smirnoff, a twister game and some crisco.
  
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- Pontiac
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 1:39pm
  What, no moral utopia for America? You would think Christians would love Iran…
  
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blanco5
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:27am
Soooo, Iran has NO gays and NO alcoholics?

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- philipzhao
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:40am
  No soda larger the 32 oz. !
  
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- lordkresh
  Posted on June 26, 2012 at 2:50pm
  That is what they want you to believe. In fact most of the population is into sodomizing young boys. If you have ever been in that region of the world(Afghanistan) the truth will be made readily apparent to you.
  
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Ron Staiger
Posted on June 26, 2012 at 8:24am
After reading that story, I need a drink!

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