Iran’s online gamblers could face death under a new draft law being prepared by the Islamic Republic’s elected officials. 

Iranian media recently quoted Reza Taghipour Anvari, a member of the Islamic Consultative Assembly’s Industries Commission, saying deputies were drafting legislation to update Iran’s gambling laws to specifically address illegal online gambling and betting. 

Taghipour said the aim of the legislation was to “criminalize the perpetrators of Internet gambling, the operators of betting sites and those who transfer money in this field, and the necessary punishment will be determined in accordance with this law.”

Other media outlets subsequently quoted Hassan Norouzi, vice-president of the Judiciary and Legal Commission, saying “tough punishments” would be imposed on both gamblers and the online sites they patronize. Repeat offenders whose “insistence on committing the felony and lack of remorse will be considered by judges as ‘corruption on Earth’ which is punishable by death.”