Jurisprudential-legal Analysis of Panderism

Imami jurists have considered panderism as one of the crimes that results in fixed corporal punishments (hadd). All the penal laws after the Islamic Revolution, including the Islamic Penal Code of 2013, follow the well-known opinion of the jurists and consider panderism as a crime results in prescribed and fixed punishment(hadd). The present study has criticized this view with an analytical-critical method and has considered the discretionary punishment awarded by the judge (ta’zir) for this crime to be more justified and rational. The article also studies various elements of the material and mental pillars of panderism. Through a jurisprudential-legal analysis of panderism in cyberspace, the article studies possibility of the occurrence of physical behavior of "bringing together" through mere acquaintance with novelty communicational technologies and participation in panderism physically or virtually. The article further examines the necessary circumstances for committing panderism and its effects on fornication and sodomy. Finally, the article examines the place of "knowledge substituting intent" and "matching the intent of the perpetrator with a criminal incident" in the mental element of this crime.