The Crime of Sterilization and Its Punishments

Sterilization, as one of the old issues, has been studied in human societies in the sciences of medicine, law, and jurisprudence since ancient times. Mandatory sterilization of human that was against his/her will and perpetrated usually as a corporal punishment has been gradually abolished. However, indirect sterilization due to dominancy of some political power has been continued and applied for some immigrants or clans. In this paper, the prohibition and deference of involuntary sterilization of human, allowable cases of sterilization, the role of the one who is to be sterilized, the liability of the physician involving in the process of sterilization of a person, the legal and religious backgrounds of this act as well as the relevant legal provisions of punishments have been studied. Furthermore, emergency conditions of medical exemptions for permanent sterilization of men and women in addition to enforcement of this act from the view point of Islamic Punishment Law ratified in 2013 have been assessed in this paper. In addition, the insufficiency/ inappropriateness of the punishment of human permanent sterilization has been proved based on laws and legal procedures.