Iran's Criminal Policy towards the International Crimes within the Jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court

Abstract

One of the new challenges of the international community is the internationalization, and especially the organization of crimes known as international offenses. Some investigations show that as many as 315 international treaties and documents were issued between 1815 and May 1996, which have mentioned 24 international offenses. International crimes include those illegal acts that violate an obligation which is of fundamental importance from the perspective of the international community, and the elements making these crimes include the international, supranational and governmental elements. The legal element of an international offense comes either from a convention or from international law, both cases of which require the application of an appropriate penal policy by the members of the United Nations in accordance with its international obligations. Iran's penal policy is such that some international crimes have not been assumed as crimes in domestic law. Besides, the Parliament has not approved of acceding to the Statute of the International Criminal Court, as the only permanent institution responsible for punishing the international criminals despite the fact that Iran has signed the Statute on December 31, 2002. However, the domestic law has mentioned and determined the appropriate penal policy in relation to some other crimes such as human trafficking, money laundering, and cybercrime, which are among the most controversial issues that we deal with in this study