Proposal to Replace Death Penalty with Life Imprisonment for Drug Traffickers

Mirhadi Ghara Sayed Roumiani, a member of the Legal and Judicial Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has reported the preparation and review of a proposal in the Parliament that, if approved, would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment for drug traffickers, except for those who engage in armed drug trafficking. This comes despite Iranian officials consistently emphasizing that the death penalty for drug-related crimes has a 'deterrent role'; on the other hand, human rights organizations argue that statistics do not support this claim. The high number of executions in Iran has been a major point of criticism regarding human rights conditions in the country in recent years, and according to human rights organizations, under international law, drug-related crimes are not classified as serious crimes warranting the death penalty. Amnesty International states that Iran has the highest per capita execution rate in the world, with at least 700 people executed in Iran since the beginning of this year. More details on the new proposal can be found in a report by Mahtab Vahidi Rad.