Baku, Azerbaijan, Aug. 8
By Emil Ilgar – Trend:
About 5,300 drug-related criminals held in Iran’s prisons have been sentenced to death and are waiting for execution, Hassan Norouzi, Spokesperson of the Parliamentary Judicial and Legal Commission said Aug.8.
“Most of the drug-related criminals were executed during last year. 5,300 criminal are still waiting for the execution,” Norouzi added during his speech in the Parliament, ISNA reported.
Iranian Parliament has been discussing an amendment to the drug-enforcement law for the purpose of elimination of the death penalty for drug traffickers.
Death penalty could be replaced by a long-term prison.
Iran has been widely criticized by international human rights organizations for maintaining one of the highest execution rates per capita.
According to the Amnesty International, Iran accounted for the 66% of all recorded executions in the Middle East and North Africa. “Nonetheless, overall number of the executions carried out in Iran had dropped by 42% (from at least 977 to at least 567) in 2016, compared to the previous year,” said Norouzi.