Baku, Azerbaijan, July 16
By Fatih Karimov– Trend:
The Iranian parliament approved general outlines of a bill to reduce death penalty for drug offences in the country.
The bill was approved on July 16 by 182 MPS votes in favor of it, 36 against and 6 abstained, Iran’s ISNA news agency reported.
The bill, which is under study in parliament for more than one year, will save at least 5,000 prisoners pending for execution once approved.
Under the new bill, those convicted of producing or distributing more than 100 kilograms of opium or two kilograms of industrial narcotics will face death penalty.
Under the current law, smuggling of 30 grams of industrial drugs and also 20 kilograms of opium is punishable by death.
According to Amnesty International, Iran carried out 567 executions in 2016, standing among the top five executioner countries in the world.