Ehsan Condition and the Death Penalty for Sodomy (Jurisprudential Review of Article 234 of the Islamic Penal Code)

Islamic Penal Code approved in 1392 has undergone some serious changes as compared with the Islamic Penal Code 1370. One of the topics that undergone drastic change was the punishment of the person committed sodomy. According to article 110 of old law, the death penalty was intended for it, but in new law with the condition of Ehsan, the punishment was described in details. This change was based on an infrequent jurisprudential point of view. This article, with the exact revision of jurisprudential texts and theoretical analysis of two main views on the issue, aims at showing that if the dominant doctrine of the jurists is ignored, there are enough firm evidence and documents for the opposing doctrine (that was the basis of this change) which have been acknowledged even by the adherents of the dominant doctrine.