Changes in Conditions Leading to Execution of Drug Traffickers in New Parliamentary Proposal

The spokesperson for the Judicial Commission of the Iranian Parliament announced that in the new amendments to the proposal to abolish the death penalty for drug traffickers, the minimum amount of traditional and industrial drugs subject to the death penalty has been set higher than before. According to Hassan Norouzi, in the amendments made in the Judicial Commission, the death penalty is considered for trafficking more than 100 kilograms of traditional drugs and two kilograms of industrial drugs. Under the current law, the death penalty is imposed for trafficking more than thirty grams of industrial drugs. This law also stipulates prison and fines for trafficking between 20 to 100 kilograms of traditional drugs, with the death penalty for repeat offenders. These new amendments come despite previous announcements from parliament representatives that the death penalty would only apply to armed drug traffickers. In a session on Sunday, July 9, the Attorney General, the Deputy for Legal Affairs of the Judiciary, and the Secretary-General of the Drug Control Headquarters attended the discussion on this proposal. According to the new resolution of the Judicial Commission, the death penalty is considered for the production, distribution, sale, or importation of more than 100 kilograms of traditional drugs such as opium, resin, and burnt drugs, and two kilograms of drugs like heroin, morphine, cocaine, and other chemical derivatives of morphine and cocaine. Representatives of the tenth parliament have proposed a plan to abolish the death penalty for drug traffickers. In the ninth parliament, a proposal was also presented to convert the death penalty for unarmed drug traffickers to life imprisonment, but this proposal was not reviewed. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's Minister of Justice, and the Drug Control Headquarters opposed the complete abolition of the death penalty for drug traffickers. While some parliament members believe the death penalty should only apply to armed traffickers, the Minister of Justice insists that this penalty should remain for certain volumes of trafficking. On Sunday, Mr. Pourmohammadi stated, "Considering the necessity of maintaining the death penalty for certain levels of production, distribution, and trafficking of drugs, discussions have been held with the Judicial and Legal Commission to determine a specific weight for imposing the death penalty." Previously, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the Judiciary, emphasized that "abolishing the death penalty for drug traffickers is not the policy of the Judiciary." However, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary, has repeatedly stated that after nearly 40 years of executions for drug offenses, "no desirable outcome has been achieved." In this context, Mohammad Bagher Olfat, the Deputy for Social Affairs and Crime Prevention of the Judiciary, also stated that the execution of "drug traffickers" in Iran has not been "deterrent." Mohammad Kazemi, the Deputy Chairman of the Judicial Commission, reported on Wednesday, July 5, that members of this commission have requested the Judiciary to suspend the execution of some drug trafficking defendants until the proposal for changing the penalties for these crimes is approved. According to statistics announced by Ali Bakhtiar, a member of the Judicial and Legal Commission, on April 12, five thousand drug traffickers in Iran are "on death row." This statistic comes as Amnesty International reported a 42% decrease in the number of executions in Iran in 2016 compared to the previous year. Despite this decrease, the number of executions for drug traffickers in Iran remains high. For years, the United Nations has repeatedly called for a halt to the imposition of the death penalty as a punishment for drug trafficking, both in Iran and in other countries around the world. From the perspective of this global organization, the death penalty has no impact on drug-related crimes, and preventing these crimes fundamentally requires other methods. In this context, families of drug convicts have gathered in protest against the death penalty. If the parliament approves the final version, the death penalty for traffickers will be "abolished." Pourmohammadi stated that there needs to be a review of the amounts and instances of the death penalty. Javad Larijani mentioned that executions for drug offenses should be limited to major traffickers. A proposal for "reducing the death penalty" has been submitted to the parliamentary leadership.