Discovery of 50,000 Kilograms of Drugs in Kerman During the First Four Months of 2017

The Director General of Security and Law Enforcement of Kerman Province announced the discovery of over 50,000 kilograms of various drugs in the first four months of the current year. Khalil Homayi stated on Tuesday, September 6, in an interview with the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the judiciary, that this amount of drug seizures represents a 49% increase compared to the same period last year. This provincial official attributed the increase in drug production in Afghanistan, due to the 'foreign presence' in that country, from 100 tons in 2001 to over 8,000 tons this year, as one of the reasons for the rise in police seizures in Iran. He expressed hope that the Iranian parliament could pass laws to 'cut the link between security issues and drug trafficking.' This official also supported a plan to meet 'the needs of domestic drug users from prescribed medications by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education,' welcoming its implementation and stating that if this plan is executed, 'the drug market will be taken from the traffickers,' and it will create a 'ground for reducing social harms and problems caused by drugs.' Meanwhile, Ali Moidi, the Deputy Secretary-General of the Drug Control Headquarters, announced on Sunday night, September 5, in a television program that there are currently nearly 2.8 million regular drug users in Iran. He thanked the Iranian parliament for addressing the issue of combating drug trafficking and said, 'We expect more from the parliament.' On Sunday, August 13, Iranian parliament members approved changes to the drug control law, which limits the death penalty for drug-related crimes, including for those currently sentenced to death. According to Hassan Norouzi, the spokesman for the Judiciary Commission of the parliament, there are currently 'more than 5,000 drug prisoners' awaiting execution, who will be spared from execution under these changes, with their sentences being changed to 20 to 30 years in prison. Under the current law, the manufacture, distribution, sale, or importation of more than 5 kilograms of hashish, opium, or other derivatives, and more than 30 grams of heroin, morphine, cocaine, and other chemical derivatives, is punishable by death. However, in the proposed new law, the death penalty is set for the production and distribution of 50 kilograms of traditional drugs and 2 kilograms of industrial drugs. Recently, Amnesty International and the Boroumand Foundation issued a joint statement criticizing the changes in the plan to convert the death penalty for drug traffickers and called for the complete abolition of the death penalty for drug offenders. These two organizations stated in their statement, citing Iranian officials, that the number of executed drug offenders has been close to 10,000 since 1988. After years of widespread executions of drug-related offenders, some officials of the Islamic Republic have acknowledged the ineffectiveness of this method of combat and called for a review of the laws in this area. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former Justice Minister, was among those officials who stated in November 2016 that 'the volume of the death penalty in recent years has not been effective' and that there should be a review of 'the amount and instances' of this punishment. In this context, Mohammad Javad Larijani, head of the Human Rights Headquarters of the judiciary, emphasized that reducing the number of executions would occur if the death penalty were limited to 'the leaders of major and important traffickers,' predicting that the effects of such a revision would become apparent within six to seven months. Iran and China top the list of countries in the world in executing the death penalty, and human rights organizations, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, and non-governmental organizations have repeatedly warned and criticized the high number of executions in Iran.