Iran under pressure to abolish death penalty for drug trafficking

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-Q2lQv_InuPv2PBBP4U7j7OIIIDpbcDT_PJU3XoozTgnNKZta_kmqfxnCdH2oCyR2WpeAhkiMBM4hPKFWH176zsnRo73Z3qO3u7lK1cVnNJn468KRA7L5a47Vai8dz5gdPiRRAbbtAE/s1600/Execution+Iran.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Public hanging in Iran" border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1-Q2lQv_InuPv2PBBP4U7j7OIIIDpbcDT_PJU3XoozTgnNKZta_kmqfxnCdH2oCyR2WpeAhkiMBM4hPKFWH176zsnRo73Z3qO3u7lK1cVnNJn468KRA7L5a47Vai8dz5gdPiRRAbbtAE/s400/Execution+Iran.jpg" title="Public hanging in Iran" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Several European countries cut off financial contributions to republic's counter-narcotics campaign</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran is under pressure to end its use of death penalty against drug traffickers after facing a serious shortfall in the international funding of the country's counter-narcotics campaign.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An increasing number of European countries have decided to cut off contributions even though the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last year approved a 5-year country partnership programme for Iran that was aimed at providing about $20m (then 14.4m pounds).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The agency's latest annual appeal document, obtained by the human rights group Reprieve, which works for the abolition of death penalty, shows that Tehran has received zero in funding for 2016. The UK has confirmed in writing that it is no longer contributing. Similar indications have come from Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">2 senior Iranian officials have recently complained about the lack of international support. Last week, Iran's prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, blamed "imperialist" powers for young people's addiction to drugs. In April, the Tehran Times quoted the interior minister as saying that Europeans were uncooperative.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran is a neighbour to Afghanistan, a leading producer and supplier of the world's drugs, and faces big challenges at home with a young population susceptible to a variety of cheap and abundant addictive drugs. Critics, however, say Iran's use of death penalty in this regard has done little, if anything, to address the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is increasingly untenable for abolitionist states to contribute to the funding of law enforcement-led counter-narcotics programmes in Iran due to skyrocketing drug-related executions in Iran," Maya Foa, director of Reprieve's death penalty team, told the Guardian on the sidelines of the 6th World Congress Against the Death Penalty in Oslo.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran executed nearly 1,000 people last year, of which more than 1/2 were for drug offences. It is difficult to gauge public attitude to executions in Iran but Iranians increasingly favour forgiveness in cases involving murder. The number of Iranian convicts whose lives were saved last year after being pardoned outnumbered those who were known to have been put to death for murder.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There has been a considerable drop in the number of executions in Iran since the beginning of this year (around 200 executions) but activists said it was too early to say if that amounted to a change in policy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UNODC did comment on the cooperation of the Europeans. "The programme received funding in 2015 and there are pledges for 2016 from countries. It would therefore be premature to make any judgment on funding levels for the programme, especially as we are only halfway through the year," said David Dadge, UNODC's spokesperson.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UNODC's deputy executive director, Aldo Lale-Demoz, recently said: "You'll never be able to control the world drug problem just by investing in law enforcement and repression."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Iran has hinted that it wants to end drug-related executions. In December, more than 70 MPs introduced a bill to end such executions and officials have since signalled that Iran is pursing the matter. Iran's chief prosecutor said last week that "we are not in favour of death penalty and we don't think it's appropriate".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Madyar Samienejad, an Oslo-based human rights defender, said comments by the Iranian judicial authorities over abolishing the death penalty for drug-related offences appeared to be serious, showing there was a will to tackle the issue. "I think this is the direct result of good campaigning. Executions have contributed to a great degree in how Iran is viewed from the outside world and the Iranian authorities seem to have begun acknowledging this, at least in their words," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Executions in Iran take place at the hands of the hardline judiciary, which acts independently of the moderate administration of Hassan Rouhani. But critics say the government has failed in preventing such executions take place in public and providing enough funding for lawyers defending convicts.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Asked by the Guardian, the Norwegian foreign minister, Borge Brende, said last week: "We have been very clear regarding our funding towards the UN, and that we will not be a part of funding Iran's programs which is related to this inhumane practice." The French foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, however, said: "The fight against drug trafficking is one thing, the fight against the death penalty is another." He did not say whether France was still contributing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Guardian, June 29, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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Several European countries cut off financial contributions to republic's counter-narcotics campaign Iran is under pressure to end its us...

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Taiwan 'moving toward' abolishing death penalty

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTbsJdTf5tcjDZLcrdauhgH4Xfg1dzKThUwq9PUAQL_K0hbpHfdHPgwcA2J9YRcIroTQlVi4IeGVO1g3en1z8v0yMEVSSHHW9bwodPnMrBrty_DshIDMQSY-UjJ8slSXBxFzcjY9MrrvI/s1600/Taiwan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Taiwan" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTbsJdTf5tcjDZLcrdauhgH4Xfg1dzKThUwq9PUAQL_K0hbpHfdHPgwcA2J9YRcIroTQlVi4IeGVO1g3en1z8v0yMEVSSHHW9bwodPnMrBrty_DshIDMQSY-UjJ8slSXBxFzcjY9MrrvI/s400/Taiwan.jpg" title="Taiwan" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Ministry of Justice yesterday responded to EU calls to abolish capital punishment by saying that Taiwan's justice system is moving toward that goal in the long term, adding that a high percentage of Taiwanese still favor the death penalty for certain crimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Taiwan, China, Japan and the US were among the nations criticized in the Council of the EU's Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World in 2015, which was released on Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The report said that 101 countries have abolished the death penalty, as the EU reaffirmed "its opposition to the death penalty and use of all diplomatic tools at its disposal to advance the cause of worldwide abolition."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The EU deplored the continuing use of the death penalty in various parts of the world: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Belarus, Egypt, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, and the USA were a particular focus of attention," it added, as the EU urged these nations to abolish capital punishment. Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang yesterday said the ministry's ultimate goal is to abolish capital punishment in Taiwan, "but current public surveys indicate that 82 % of the people are against abolition of the death penalty."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chen said the ministry has undertaken 4 measures toward this long-term objective: ending legal requirements for "mandatory capital punishment" for certain crimes; taking steps for the judiciary to deliberate on "discretionary capital punishment"; handing out the death penalty with extreme prudence; and carrying out the death penalty with extreme prudence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We are currently reviewing and assessing this issue," Chen said. "The ministry will take very careful approaches on handling this issue and carrying out the death penalty, before our nation has formally abolished it," Chen said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Other judicial officials said that the ministry is still responsible for policies on the death penalty, and that the nation's laws still retain the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Taipei Times, June 22, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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The Ministry of Justice yesterday responded to EU calls to abolish capital punishment by saying that Taiwan's justice system is moving t...

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