When law becomes violence: Structural and symbolic harm in Iran’s religious state

Abstract

This paper examines how law institutionalizes and legitimizes violence within the Islamic Republic of Iran, using the country’s Islamic Constitution and legal codes as a case study. Through close analysis of constitutional and statutory provisions, it explores how religiously grounded legal frameworks produce systemic harm against women, children, and religious minorities. Rather than viewing violence as a deviation from legal norms, the paper argues that violence is embedded in the law itself—functioning through mechanisms of exclusion, inequality, and punishment sanctified by religious authority. Drawing on theories of structural and symbolic violence, the paper demonstrates how the law codifies hierarchies of gender, age, and belief. Structural violence operates through discriminatory legal provisions, while symbolic violence is enacted through moralizing narratives that mask domination as divine order. The paper focuses on areas where legal violence is most pronounced: unequal rights in family and criminal law, the diminished legal status of religious minorities, and the state’s use of corporal punishments that blur the line between judicial process and physical harm. By positioning the Islamic Republic as a case study, the paper contributes to wider debates on the intersection of religion, law, and violence. It asks how law—rather than restraining violence—can become its most powerful enabler under the guise of sacred legitimacy.