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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UN drugs agency ignores global drug execution crisis in annual report

<div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTBVxbiAKcrGPTLJtEzMWAAIsQNe1FZdjNefSnvhPYhhrx1YHh_pAcZvfctSi67NtW7UwBpvkjAxXDVnjVNC5H6yxAHhYGNqizqCm5VJXsIBQMAFZpstkaOVkFrb_06aiWF0AQUw0QaQ/s1600/UN+building.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="UN Building, NYC" border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNTBVxbiAKcrGPTLJtEzMWAAIsQNe1FZdjNefSnvhPYhhrx1YHh_pAcZvfctSi67NtW7UwBpvkjAxXDVnjVNC5H6yxAHhYGNqizqCm5VJXsIBQMAFZpstkaOVkFrb_06aiWF0AQUw0QaQ/s400/UN+building.jpg" title="UN Building, NYC" width="400" /></a></div>A new report by the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime fails to mention the use of the death penalty for drug crimes, despite a surge in executions of alleged drug offenders in countries where the UN agency funds counter-narcotics police.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UNODC unveiled its 2016 World Drug Report today (23 June) and warned that the number of drug users has risen worldwide. However, the 174-page document included no reference to the increased number of death sentences and executions in countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">While the UNODC’s report lamented the number of deaths from drugs overdoses, it made no reference to the 638 alleged drug offenders who were hanged in Iran last year, up from 367 in 2014.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UNODC recently announced a new $20m funding deal for Iranian drug operations, which will support law enforcement training and equipment that has previously been linked to arrests and executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Earlier this year 56 countries, including all 28 EU member states, signed a statement condemning the failure of a UNODC-administered summit to address the death penalty for drug crimes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The statement also appeared to warn the UNODC over its human rights record, noting the need to “prevent criminal justice or other forms of international assistance resulting in a death sentence being applied, and to hold international agencies to account for compliance with this and all other human rights obligations.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Commenting, Maya Foa, Director of Reprieve’s Death Penalty Team, said:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The UN’s World Drug Report completely ignores the global resurgence in the death penalty for drug crimes, which has seen states like Iran and Saudi Arabia execute hundreds of alleged drug offenders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“This seems all too convenient an omission given that the body which authored the report, the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime, continues to fund Iranian and Pakistani drug raids which routinely send drug mules to death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Instead of whitewashing the world’s drug executions crisis, UNODC should face up to its human rights responsibilities, and freeze its support for drug police in countries which apply the death penalty for narcotics offences.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The UNODC report is available <a href="http://www.unodc.org/doc/wdr2016/WORLD_DRUG_REPORT_2016_web.pdf">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Reprieve, June 23, 2016<br /><br /></div><div><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>

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A new report by the UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime fails to mention the use of the death penalty for drug crimes, despite a surge in executi...

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