Abstract

The Iranian government is a theocracy—the only one in the world today. The clergy control all three branches of government. The supreme leader or velayat-e-faqu’ih is also a cleric. In such a political system all legislation and policy making are conducted in accordance with the leaders’ interpretation of Islamic law or Shari’a. In this paper I will examine the extent to which these laws and policies allow the government to intrude into the private sphere of life and intervene in the privacy of individual citizens. I will use specific examples to illustrate my point that since citizens have no control over their government and cannot impact the interpretation of Shari’a, their private sphere is always threatened by government action