Human Rights Watch: The Guardian Council Should Take the First Step to Reduce Executions

Human Rights Watch issued a statement urging the Guardian Council to promptly approve the new anti-drug law and take the first step to reduce the number of executions in Iran. On Sunday, August 13, the Iranian Parliament approved an amendment to the anti-drug law, which, if confirmed by the Guardian Council, will significantly reduce the number of people executed for drug-related offenses. This proposal faced opposition from the outset and was sent back to the Judiciary Commission for amendments four times before the final approval. Officials from the Judiciary and the Law Enforcement Force, as well as the Drug Control Organization, were among the opponents of this proposal. In the initial version of this law, a larger number of drug offenders would have been exempt from the death penalty. Now, Human Rights Watch states that even this law, if implemented, would still be considered a step in the right direction. The organization claims that Iran has one of the highest execution rates in the world and is one of the few countries that sentences individuals to death for crimes committed 'in childhood.' According to Amnesty International, at least 567 people were executed in Iran in 2016, a 42% decrease from the previous year. In 2015, at least 977 people were executed in Iran according to these statistics. Amnesty International, citing Iranian officials, reported that nearly 10,000 drug offenders have been executed since 1988. Under the current law, the distribution, sale, or importation of more than 5 kilograms of hashish, opium, or more than 30 grams of heroin, morphine, cocaine, and other chemical derivatives of morphine and cocaine carries the death penalty. However, according to Hassan Norouzi, spokesman for the Judiciary and Legal Commission of Parliament, the new law proposes the death penalty for the production and distribution of 50 kilograms of traditional drugs and 2 kilograms of industrial drugs. If this law is approved by the Guardian Council, according to the spokesman for the Judiciary and Legal Committee of Parliament, it will be retroactive, saving four to five thousand death row inmates from execution. Under this law, individuals who were sentenced to death before the law's approval, if they have no prior history of trafficking and in cases involving less than 2 kilograms of industrial drugs and 100 kilograms of traditional drugs, will have their sentences commuted from death to imprisonment. These inmates will qualify for reduced sentences if there are no charges of gang leadership or the use of firearms in their cases. Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East division of Human Rights Watch, stated regarding the new law: 'If the changes to Iran's drug law are finalized, it could free thousands who should never have been in such a position awaiting execution.' She emphasized: 'Even Iranian officials have acknowledged that the death penalty is ineffective in combating drug trafficking, and Iran should abolish the death penalty for all drug offenders and then end all executions.' Sarah Leah Whitson stressed: 'The Guardian Council should not waste even one more moment and should immediately approve the law, taking the first step towards reducing the prevalence of executions in Iran.' Human Rights Watch opposes the death penalty altogether and calls for its abolition in all countries.