UN: Iran Should Halt Executions of Drug Traffickers Until Parliament Decides

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a statement on Thursday urging Iran to refrain from executing drug traffickers until the Islamic Consultative Assembly makes a decision regarding laws related to the punishment of drug traffickers. According to the United Nations website, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated: "Given that it is widely accepted in Iran that executing drug traffickers does not reduce drug-related crimes, I urge Iran to take an important step in this regard and temporarily halt the executions of these convicts." The report notes that at least 966 people were executed in Iran in 2015, marking an unprecedented number of executions in the past two decades. The UN states that since the beginning of 2016, 60 people have been executed in Iran. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights mentioned that last week five people were executed in Iran, three of whom were charged with drug trafficking and two others with murder. The UN indicates that one of these three individuals, Rashid Kouhi, raises serious concerns regarding the fairness of his trial and his appeal process. Rashid Kouhi was arrested in 2011 for possessing 800 grams of crystal meth and was ultimately executed on Saturday, April 21, of this year in Gilan province. Amnesty International previously stated that Iran has the second-highest number of executions after China. The high number of executions in Iran has provoked widespread international reactions. Meanwhile, in December of last year, over 70 members of the Iranian parliament signed a proposal to abolish the death penalty from the anti-drug law. Mohammad Javad Larijani, Secretary of the Human Rights Headquarters of the Judiciary, also stated in an interview with CNN last December that "90%" of the death penalty statistics in Iran relate to drug-related crimes. Larijani acknowledged that imposing the death penalty for drug-related offenses and its implementation over the past four decades has been ineffective and "does not yield the desired results." He also emphasized that the laws related to this punishment "need reform" and that in this case, "90% of executions in Iran would decrease, which would be a significant step forward." Meanwhile, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein stated on Thursday that positive signs from Iran's judiciary, executive, and legislative branches for changing this law have been observed, and he hopes the new parliament will approve these changes. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights clarified that unfortunately, the execution of individuals accused of drug trafficking continues in Iran. He also expressed concern about the execution of individuals who were under 18 at the time of their crime, stating that many of these defendants in Iran are awaiting the execution of their sentences. Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has called on the Iranian government to halt the executions of these defendants.