A Law for Execution, Not Security

Once again, the Islamic Republic’s parliament is passing a bill that neither aims to ensure national security nor to protect the people’s interests, but rather serves as a new tool for repression, intimidation, and elimination of dissent. The bill, titled ‘Intensifying Punishment for Spies and Collaborators with Israel,’ clearly seeks to establish maximum control over society and close off any avenues for criticism, protest, and freedom of expression, more than it aims to combat espionage.

This bill has been introduced under the pretext of a recent attack by Israel, but the reality is that it seeks to evade accountability and make the people pay the price for the inefficiency of the intelligence and security agencies by exploiting this situation.

This bill not only lacks a clear legal basis but also uses deliberately vague and interpretable terms to label any political, media, or even scientific or technological activity as potential collaboration with the enemy, ultimately leading to execution.

In the first article of the bill, merely engaging in intelligence or espionage activities for Israel or other hostile states and groups can be considered ‘corruption on earth’ and lead to a death sentence. But who decides which country or group is hostile?

In a country where domestic critics, civil activists, journalists, and even technology experts are easily arrested on charges of collaborating with the enemy, these vague definitions are merely tools of repression, not law.

In the second article, any action, even indirect, that is deemed by the authorities to strengthen or legitimize Israel is considered deserving of execution.

This provision is so broad that a political analysis, a scientific article, or even a media conversation can easily be considered as falling under this accusation. Legislation that is this vague and expansive is not truly law but rather a tool for official and legalized crime.

The third article includes a long list of activities, from drone manufacturing to cyber actions and even technological communications, as criminalized without providing clear boundaries. There is no independent body to impartially review the interpretation of these matters.

Worse still is the ten-year prison sentence predicted for using tools like Starlink, which is not only ridiculous but a clear example of the authorities’ fear of technology and the free communication of people with the world.

Most importantly, this bill is designed in such a way that the power of interpretation is completely in the hands of the security agencies and sham courts. Phrases like any security, military, economic, technological action or hostile groups are so elastic that they can consider any individual and any behavior as a crime.

The clear message is that in this country, no one is safe from death if the security agencies decide so.

Experience has also shown that these vague terms, like spreading lies or actions against national security, have been tools for suppressing dissent for years.

Now, with this bill, under the shadow of a foreign country’s attack, all channels of freedom of expression, political criticism, and civil activity are to be completely blocked, and individuals are to be handed over to the gallows on charges like ‘corruption on earth.’

In the fourth article, even producing content that typically causes public fear or harms national security is considered deserving of execution. This means that not only criticism but even reporting or warning about inefficiencies is considered a crime.

The bill is written in such a way that the slightest opposition, even if intended to reform matters, can easily lead to death under the judiciary’s interpretation.

On the other hand, the judicial process is also fully at the service of power’s will. According to articles 7 and 8, courts related to these crimes are to be held in a special and expedited manner, meaning complete defenselessness for the accused.

This same judicial method was previously implemented in the economic courts during Raisi’s term, resulting in nothing but widespread injustice and hasty verdicts.

Now, the same flawed formula is to be repeated in the security domain, with the difference that this time it’s not about financial cases but human destinies, in a context where the slightest mistake by a judge can end human lives, meaning a legalized catastrophe.

But the root of the issue goes beyond this. The main problem is the orientation of the entire bill. Instead of holding the responsible security and intelligence agencies accountable for their poor performance, the burden of the country’s security has been placed on the shoulders of the people.

Ordinary citizens, journalists, internet users, and civil activists have become perpetual suspects.

While some have confessed to spying in this country for over ten years, are ordinary people really to blame, or the agencies that have been asleep for these ten years?

None of the bill’s designers ask why the country’s intelligence system has been unable to identify and dismantle spy networks before disaster strikes. Isn’t the structural weakness and the regime’s mistaken focus on controlling hijab, media, and the internet the reason Israel has targeted us from within our country?

When the entire system’s energy was spent on suppressing and intimidating young people, journalists, and social media users, Israel gathered strategic information from within Iran and built drone infrastructure. How long must this contradiction be denied?

One cannot expect a different result by repeating the same mistakes.

Instead of seeking the source of the threat in the inefficiency of intelligence agencies and structural corruption, the parliament has once again chosen the easier path: increasing pressure on citizens, this time with the language of execution. But the result will be nothing but diverting public opinion, losing sight of the real enemy, and a more severe blow to public security and trust.