Organ Donation from Condemned Prisoners

Abstract

The issue of permissibility or non-permissibility of donating body parts of condemned prisoners and sentenced to Qiṣāṣ (Arabic: قِصاص, literally, retaliation) is one of the important and practical issues that must be answered in the light of modern jurisprudence and law. The issue of the possibility of transplanting the organs of condemned prisoners to needy patients has been considered and permitted in many legal systems. This issue can be reviewed in terms of jurisprudence and Iranian law. This study which has been written by descriptive and analytical method examines the important question of what is the approach of Holy Legislator to such an affair? The chapters of the rule of necessity (Arabic: اِضْطِرار) and conflict (Arabic: تَزاحُم) are largely related to this issue. According to the emergency situation in the Islamic society, it will be allowed to remove the organs of condemned prisoners in the operating room, whether their lives and safety are not protected by the law or not. This issue can also be examined from another aspect, such that even in non-necessity situations in cases of unfixed death penalty, the convict can be executed in the operating room instead of hanging, because the reason of the retaliation with the sword is to prevent the convict from being bothered and also that their transplantable organs can also be used. In this case, his/her permission is a condition. This has been authorized by Article 47 of the Regulations for the Execution of Ḥudūd (Fixed Punishments), Capital Punishment, Amputation, Retaliation, Diyāt (Blood-Money), Flogging, Banishment, Expulsion Order (Nafy), Compulsory Domicile and Prohibition from Staying in a Certain Place or Places Adopted on 2019.

Keywords

• necessity
• transplanted organ
• conflict
• mutilation
• execution