Article 168 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s constitution has stipulated that hearing political and press charges should be public and attended by a jury at a court of law. The quality of political crime and the reason for differentiating it from other crimes; the main reason behind the emphasis put by the law on open hearing of such crimes in presence of jury and merely at courts of law; the consequences of these provisions and conditions; and most importantly, the approach taken by Islam and the sacred Sharia law to political crime, are major topics which need due attention. Discussing every one of these topics can be considered a step toward implementation of this progressive article of the Iranian constitution. This paper discusses major topics related to the Islamic jurisprudence which can be considered as instances of political crime by scrutinizing this issue from a new standpoint.
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