Readdressing the Issue of Tashhir (Public Exposure) in Imamiyah Jurisprudence (With an Analysis of Imam Khomeini’s Views)

In Imamiyah penal jurisprudence, Tashhir or publicly shaming of an offender, for some reasons, is an exception to the principle of preserving the honor of people and refraining from revealing secrets of Muslims. With respect to the importance of abandoning one’s right and the need for preserving honor and dignity of people, this paper intends to extract instances of verdicts on publicly shaming of offenders from the legacy of jurisprudence in an analytical way. Findings of the paper, achieved through a descriptive-analytical method, indicate that except in one case, i.e. “false testimony”, examples of crimes brought up by the jurists such as Ghiadat (complicity in crime), Ghazf (attributing adultery to someone), Ehtial (fraud), Tadlis (criminal misrepresentation), and Eflas (debt for insolvency) lack valid documentation. Therefore, as the presumption goes, lack of evidence for a crime is regarded as an evidence for its non-existence. Therefore, Tashhir, except in cases up to the certainty, must be practiced with caution as a means of punishment and invoking a juridical rule on punishment shall suffice for the offender. An analysis of Imam Khomeini’s view on this issue indicates that he openly supports practicing Tashhir only for false testimony. This, however, must be added that according to Imam Khomeini, practicing some forms of punishment (including Tashhir) in some certain cases and crimes with public dimension shall be permissible at the discretion of the government and under subsequent titles.