Iran needs revision of drug-related laws: Judiciary official
The Iranian human rights chief says the country needs a revision of its drug-related laws so that it could dramatically reduce the number of executions related to narcotics crimes.
In an interview with PressTV, which was aired on Tuesday, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of Iranian High Council for Human Rights, said Iranian officials are seeking a revision in the legal procedure related to the drug trafficking as he said there are serious doubts in the country whether the executions carried out in this regard are deterrent enough.
Larijani said some 90 percent of the executions carried out in Iran are related to drug-trafficking crimes, adding that a revision of the existing laws would dramatically decrease the number of executions in the country.
The Iranian official said that Iran has had a difficult task in combating drug trafficking as it shares a long border with Afghanistan, a country he called the “capital of opium cultivation.”
“To combat this huge amount of trafficking opium is not an easy job,” he said, describing the mission as a “total war” in which Iran has sacrificed thousands of its border guards and security people while the country is spending millions of dollars to prevent this passage of opium.
Larijani said, however, that the general notion in Iran is that executions carried out in relation to drug offences are not “conducive enough” to the objective of the laws, as he said the illegal trade is so lucrative to entice anyone.
He said that a revision in the laws would not mean a total abolition of the capital punishment for drug-trafficking crimes, as he said such punishment would stay in place for the “godfathers” of the “trafficking network.”
Some have criticized Iran over the past years for its number of executions. Iran says majority of the executions are related to drug trafficking and that they are needed for curbing the flow of narcotics into the country.
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