مفسد فی الارض
Mofsed-fel-arz (مفسد فی الارض, ‘corruptor on earth’) is the Islamic Republic’s catch-all capital charge. It was used to sentence rapper Toomaj Salehi to death in April 2024 and to hang protester Mohsen Shekari on 8 December 2022.
Arabic
مرتد
Morted (مرتد) is the Islamic legal category for an apostate, a person who leaves Islam. Iranian courts apply death sentences for apostasy via Article 167 of the constitution, even though the penal code does not formally codify it.
نجس
Najes (نجس) is the Shia jurisprudential category for ritually impure things. In modern Iran it has been weaponized against Bahá’ís, Christians, and Jews to strip them of dignity in markets, restaurants, and workplaces.
کافر
Kâfer (کافر) is the Arabic-origin theological term for an unbeliever, weaponized by the Islamic Republic against atheists, Bahá’ís, ex-Muslims, and political opponents. The state’s vocabulary for people whose rights it will not protect.
حزبالله ایران
Iranian Hezbollah is not the Lebanese organization. Inside Iran, hezbollâhi describes regime-loyal vigilante groups, the men in plainclothes with motorbikes and chains who appear to break up student protests, smash bookstore windows, and beat women whose hijab is improper. The non-state non-state actors.
بنیاد مستضعفان
The Foundation of the Oppressed is one of three giant parastatals controlled by the Supreme Leader’s office. Built on Pahlavi-era assets seized in 1979. Holdings in tourism, food, transport, cement, construction. The word “oppressed” in Persian became a euphemism for a holding company.
ستاد اجرایی فرمان امام
Setâd, formally the Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order, is the Supreme Leader’s economic empire. Founded 1989 to manage property expropriated from people who fled the revolution and from religious minorities, especially Bahá’ís. Reuters in 2013 estimated assets at 95 billion dollars.
ستاد امر به معروف
Setâd-e Amr be Ma’ruf is the Headquarters for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, the office that funds and coordinates Iran’s morality enforcement.
ارشاد
Ershâd is the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Iran’s pre-publication censor. It decides which books, films, and songs reach the public.
ولی فقیه
Vali-ye faqih is the office of the Supreme Leader. Two holders since 1979: Khomeini and Khamenei. Commands the armed forces, the courts, and the vetting of candidates.