Value of human life goes up in Iran

Yahoo News:

Tue Apr 11, 6:04 AM ET

The price of human life has gone up in Iran, with the official blood money rate -- or cash paid out in the case of violent death -- rising four percent to 28,700 dollars.

Justice Minister Jamal Karimi-Rad, quoted in the governmental newspaper Iran, acknowledged the increase was lower than in previous years. It is also far below the official inflation rate of 13.5 percent.

Under Islamic law in force in Iran, anybody who kills another person has to pay compensation -- known as blood money or "diyeh" -- to the family of the victim.

Blood money can therefore be claimed by relatives of a murder victim, and is also built into vehicle insurance as compensation in cases such as a driver killing a pedestrian.

The figure is set by the judiciary on an annual basis and coincides with the start of the Iranian New Year beginning March 21.

Blood money for a woman is still half that for a man, although women's rights activists have been campaigning for equal value in the eyes of the law.

Iran's recognized religious minorities -- Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians -- were in 2003 awarded equal blood money status, having previously been worth half a Muslim.