Preventing and Countering Cyber Terrorism: A Comparative Study of Iranian Criminal Law and International Legal Instruments

The prevention of cyber-terrorism is in order to protect its victims.However, among most legal systems in the world, its criminalization is not specifically andclearlydealtwith. The review of legal sources in IranianCriminal Law shows that there is no specific regulation on the prevention of this crime, but based on some general laws such as the Computer Crime Law and the Islamic Penal Code, one could mention the preventive provisions of Iranian Criminal Law in the field of prevention of this crime and supportingits victims. Thus,the Iranian legal regime hasn't criminalized terrorism and its crimes independently and Iran’sCriminal Law is based on exemplary policiesthat can be distinguished from the ones that arecompatiblewith it. The need to take preventive measures is felt to prevent any damages to the country's information infrastructure.By considering International instrumentson cyber crimes and terrorism and variousresolutions issued by universal and regional international organizations,especiallythe United Nations, it could be argued thatcounter-terrorism strategies have never been sufficiently implementedforthe prevention of cyber terrorism. Thus,international bodies need to be more active for the criminalization of this dangerous offense which can victimize many innocent people around the world.