Larijani Promises: Efforts to Change Drug-Related Death Penalty Law

Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary of the Human Rights Council of Iran's Judiciary, announced on Friday, December 14, that "we are trying to change the law regarding death penalties related to drugs." According to the Mizan news agency, affiliated with the Judiciary, he stated that "no one wants the number of executions to be high" and added, "If we succeed in passing this law in Parliament, then 80% of executions will be eliminated, and this could be significant news." Mohammad Javad Larijani further remarked, "It is a sad issue that we are witnessing a large number of executions related to drug crimes under the current law." His comments come at a time when, according to the state news agency IRNA, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Iran's Minister of Justice, emphasized on November 27 the necessity of executing drug-related crimes and stated, "We do not accept the views of UN human rights organizations on this matter." Previously, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Iran's Minister of Interior, had differentiated the execution of drug traffickers from other executions in Iran. According to Mehr news agency, he explained this difference by saying, "Traffickers who are executed are involved not only in buying, selling, and transporting drugs but also in money laundering, armed actions, and terrorist operations, endangering global peace." The Minister of Interior had announced in March of last year that Iran opposed the abolition of the death penalty for drug traffickers at the recent Vienna conference. Human rights organizations and Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, have consistently criticized the death penalty in Iran. Meanwhile, according to the Basij News website, affiliated with the IRGC in Greater Tehran, Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, the commander of Iran's police force, announced on November 28 that 99% of executions in Iran are related to drug traffickers. In this context, the United Nations and human rights organizations have repeatedly stated that under international law, drug trafficking does not fall under the category of major crimes deserving of the death penalty. In this regard, decision-making about executions in drug cases has been assigned to Ejei, the Judiciary defended the death penalty in Iran, at least "18 people" were executed in Iran last month, and UN reporters expressed concern over the "sudden increase" in executions in Iran. The low cost of drugs in Iran: crystal meth at 15 million tomans per kilogram, heroin at ten million.