Iran, Islamic Republic of

Iran is a west Asian country, bordering Russia, Turkey, Iraq, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran has coastlines on the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. The revolution of 1979 overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy and ushered in a regime based on the Khomeinist form of political Islam, headed by a leading Shi’ite cleric, appointed by a council of theologians, as Supreme leader and a subordinate popularly elected President. The implementation of Islamic law in Iran leads to widespread and systematic human rights abuses, including the frequent use of the death penalty against both adults and children, alongside imprisonment and corporal punishment for political opposition and “morality offences” such as adultery, 'homosexual behaviour' and consuming alcohol.