The Iranian human rights chief said the country needs to revise its drug-related laws so that it could dramatically reduce the number of executions related to narcotics crimes. In an interview with Press TV aired on Tuesday, Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary-general of Iranian High Council for Human Rights, said Iranian officials are seeking a revision of the legal procedure related to drug trafficking as there are serious doubts whether the executions carried out in this regard are deterrent enough. Larijani said some 90% of the executions carried out in Iran are related to drug-trafficking crimes, adding that a revision of the existing laws would dramatically decrease the number of executions.
The official said Iran has had a difficult task in combating drug trafficking as it shares a long border with Afghanistan, a country he called the “capital of opium cultivation”.
“To combat this huge amount of opium trafficking is not an easy job,” he said, describing the mission as a “total war” in which Iran has sacrificed thousands of its border guards and security forces.
