The Islamic regime sentenced an Iranian citizen to serve two years in prison after it was alleged he distributed candies in the days that followed the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian lawyer Shala Arouji announced on Sunday.
Arouji wrote that her client had sworn that the confectionery treats were being handed out to celebrate the opening of his new business, and that the evidence against him included his apparent happiness.
Dadban, a legal consulting and training center for activists, complained that even if the regime’s accusations that the defendant had been celebrating Khamenei’s death were true, the action would not be punishable under Article 514 of the Islamic Penal Code.
به دليل پخش شيريني در شب ده اسفند (خود موكل ميگه ٩ اسفند و بابت افتتاح فست فودش بوده) محكوم به ٢ سال حبس از بابت اتهام توهين به رهبري شده!
— Shahla orouji (@ShahlaOroji) May 24, 2026
Handing out sweets is ‘not enough for conviction’
The conviction requires “explicitly derogatory and humiliating words, phrases, or behaviors,” the center asserted, adding that handing out sweet treats would not fall within these parameters.
“The court’s reliance on the defendant’s ‘happiness’ as grounds for committing the crime is in clear conflict with the principle of legality in crimes and punishments, because emotions, mental states, or subjective interpretations of individuals cannot be criminalized unless they manifest in specific behaviors defined as criminal by law,” the center continued.
“Iranian criminal laws also contain no provision that deems mere joy over a person’s death a crime.”
Despite the Islamic regime’s internet shutdown, reports of celebrations across Iran broke out following the assassination of the dictator on February 28.
