Spreading “Muharebah” to “Piracy” from the Perspective of Fiqh and Iranian Criminal Law

Piracy has a long history as same as the (history) of domination of mankind on the seas. In recent years, it is a serious threat to the international trade exchanges due to some reasons such as change of the pattern of pirates' treatment which has been usually spread as hostage and blackmail. But "piracy" which has been considered as one of the first universal jurisdiction crimes, has not been criminalized especially as an independent criminal law or description called “piracy” yet. The current descriptive and analytical research shows that according to the Iranian Penal Code, measures which have been taken by pirates usually is like the war (“Muharebah”) as well as their behaviors which often threat the security of the seas was taken into consideration as an example of Muharebah. Therefore when Iranian forces capture pirates in the high seas, Iranian courts can trial and punish them legally as perpetrators of “Muharebah”.