As protests and uprisings of various segments of the Iranian population have spread and entered a new phase, the clerical regime has now resorted to a new law to encourage its security forces to withstand the social pressure while intimidating the people who fight back.
On Friday, June 10, the state-run ‘Young Reporters Club‘ website, reported that the Raisi administration has submitted a bill to the regime’s parliament to amend the law on the use of weapons that aims to protect law enforcement against any potential litigation in light of shooting and killing citizens.
The draft amendment to the law has recently been put on the agenda of the parliament’s public session. This law, called “the use of weapons by officers of the armed forces in urgent cases”, was passed more than 20 years ago in January 1995.
According to the state-run Etemad Online, the bill which is due to be debated in parliament in the coming weeks has changed the term “officers of the armed forces” to “armed officers” in the title of the law which practically enables every individual that deems to protect that state use weapons against “threats” and be protected by the regime’s law.
According to the government’s draft, if “individuals who are armed by the legal authorities to protect themselves” commit a crime, they will not be punished in accordance with the Islamic Penal Code. Also, in cases where their use of weapons is considered a “legitimate self-defense”, the offender who kills an individual will be relieved of any ‘Dieh’ (Arabic for blood money’, a wergild someone has to pay the victim’s family).
It is worth noting that security forces in Iran have always enjoyed impunity and they crack down on protestors or “threats” wherever their security or the state’s stability is jeopardized. But following an upward trend across Iran where citizens are attacking security forces or showing resistance while being attacked, the clerical regime wants to openly convey the message that those loyal to the state are the most protected.
