Doubts on Legal Responsibility of Close Relatives

According to Islam, the close relatives of a murderer, in case of an unintentional homicide, have the responsibility of paying the blood money. Iranian Penal Law agrees with this attitude. However, this kind of paying blood money has been objected in two ways. First, most of non-Muslims discuss that paying blood money by the relatives is in contradiction to the principle of individual responsibility and punishment. Second, many Muslim legal experts, and even jurists, believe that this system belongs to the early years of Islamic era and the tribal system of that time. Therefore, the author has tried to respond the doubts in this matter.