ATLANTA, Georgia, U.S., Jun 27, 2011 (IPS) – Iran is drawing international criticism for its continued mass executions of people convicted of violating its drug laws. The Islamic Republic’s judiciary reported that 300 people were on death row as of May 30.
“For 300 drug-related convicts, including those who were in possession of at least 30 grammes of heroin, execution verdicts have been issued,” said Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, Tehran’s prosecutor- general, according to the Sharq daily newspaper.
The Iranian government has already hanged 126 people for drug offences so far this year, as of May 30, according to Hands Off Cain, a death penalty abolition organisation.
Iran executed 650 people in 2010, 590 of whom were convicted for drug offences, according to the United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office 2010 report on Human Rights and Democracy. This was up from 388 in 2009.
“Estimates suggest that Iran executes more people per capita than any other country in the world. The year 2010 saw a steep increase in the number of executions in response to a toug… >>>
