Friday , 29 March 2024

Iran Report: Executions for Drug-related Charges in 2018

Iran Human Rights (IHR) – A part of the 11th Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, by IHR, deals with drug-related executions in the country.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE (pdf) 

According to reports gathered by IHR, at least 24 people were executed for drug offences in 2018. This represents a 90% reduction compared to 2017, and is the lowest recorded number of drug-related executions since 2010. This shows that the amendments to the Anti-Narcotics law which were enforced in November 2014 have, at least on the short run, has led to a significant decrease in the number of executions for drug offences.

This is probably the most significant step towards restricting the scope of the death penalty by the Islamic Republic of Iran during the 40 years since its establishment. However, one must be cautious about the long-term effects of this reform. The law has not removed the death penalty for all drug-related crimes and there are still a large number of convicted drug offenders on the death row in Iran. Moreover, with the large extent of drug problems in Iran and given the lack of due process for such crimes, the number the executions can go up again unless a moratorium on all drug-related crimes is introduced.

Some facts about the drug-related executions in 2018:

  • 24 were executed- the lowest number in more than 10 years
  • 1 was executed in the first half of 2018
  • 12 were executed in one prison in December 2018
  • None of the drug-related executions were announced by official sources
  • Executions took place in 7 different provinces
  • Reports of 2 drug-related executions in Kermanshah could not be confirmed by independent sources and have not been included in our numbers

Drug-related executions 2010-2018

According to IHR reports, at least 3,248 people were executed for drug offences between 2010 and 2018. This gives an average of 361 drug-related executions per year. The diagram above shows that the number of drug-related executions has been under the “average” in the last three years.

Monthly breakdown of drug-related executions in 2018

Monthly breakdown of drug-related executions (above diagram) shows that the first execution for drug offences was carried out in April, five months after all the drug-related executions were temporarily ceased following enforcement of the amendments to the Anti-Narcotic law on November 14, 2017. Moreover, one can see that most of the drug-related executions took place in the second half of 2018, reaching a peak in December. It indicates that the process of reviewing the cases of the death row drug offenders have finished and it raises concerns that the decline in the number of drug-related executions in 2018 might not continue in 2019.

Geographic distribution of drug-related executions in 2018

In 2018, drug-related executions took place in seven different prisons. Additional reports were received about the execution of two prisoners in the prison of Kermanshah (west of Iran), but the reports could not be confirmed by independent sources and these have not been included in the current report.

Diagram:  In 2018, IHR reported drug-related executions in 7 provinces, compared to 22 provinces where such executions took place in 2017.

Executed on drug charges in 2018

On December 6, 2018, 12 prisoners were executed on drug-related charges in Kerman Central Prison. Ali Deyhim (or Deyhi), Majid Shiki and Reza Ouhadi, charged with possession of 700 Kg opium, 1700 Kg opium, and 14 Kg Heroin respectively. Local sources identified two other men as Jalil son of Khodabakhsh (picture), and Yousef son of Jalaloddin.[1]
“These people had at the prison for several years. One of them shad spent 15 years in jail. Another one was convicted to life imprisonment. He had been given a prison furlough and was charged with possession of drugs while he was on furlough and sentenced to death,” a well-known source told IHR, “their death sentences were upheld even after the case reviews under the new law.”

14 months after enforcement of the new amendments to the Anti-Narcotic: The process, impact, shortcomings and the future

The new legislation was approved by the Legal and Judicial Affairs Committee of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) on April 23, 2017. The Parliament voted on the new bill on August 13, 2017 and in October 2017, 150 MPs—over 50% of the Parliament—signed the bill. Finally, the new bill was approved by the Guardian Council on October 18, 2017. The bill was announced by the Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani, and published in an official newspaper on Saturday October 29, 2017 and the new bill was enforced on November 14, 2017. The present report shows that the number of drug-related executions decreased from 230 in 2017 to 24 in 2018.  With a reduction of than 90% in the number of executions, one must say that the reform had a very positive impact in limiting the use of the death penalty, at least in the short term.

However, it is difficult to assess the exact impact as there is no information about how many death sentences were commuted as a result of the new legislation. Iranian authorities have not been transparent about the number of death sentences commuted in the same way as they have not announced any of the drug-related executions in 2018. However, some of the information available in the reports published by the Iranian media is listed below:

On July 3, 2018, the Chief Prosecutor of Tehran Jafari Dolatabadi said that 1700 of the commutement requests from the 3000 death penalty or life imprisonment convicts for drug offences have been processed and 1300 requests will be processed in the coming months.[2] He didn’t say how many of the requests were approved.[3]
On June 19, 2018, Head of the Judiciary in Kerman Province announced that 238 death sentences for drug offenders were reduced to imprisonment.[4]But he didn’t reveal how many death row prisoners for drug offenses didn’t get commuted.

Based on the interviews with death row prisoners in different parts of Iran, IHR investigators have the following estimates:

Death sentences of about 20% of the death row prisoners in the Ghezelhesar Prison whose cases are reviewed, have been upheld. Ghezelhesar Prison of Karaj is the main prison where the death row drug offenders in Tehran and Alborz Province are held.
Most of the drug-related death sentences in the prisons of Urmia, Isfahan and Mazandaran have been commuted. No exact number is available.

Regarding the process, IHR has identified the following challenges:

Corruption in the Judiciary: There have been reports of bribery, where the judge has asked the family of the inmates for the bribe in order to review the cases.
 Insufficient resources put into this process by the Judiciary: This is especially true in large cities and areas where the number of drug prisoners is high. Eyewitnesses have said that in some of the judge’s rooms, there were “folders of the cases from floor to the ceiling.”
Disproportionation between crime and punishment: Most prisoners whose death sentences were commuted have been sentenced to 30 years in prison and 200 million Tomans fine, regardless of the type and degree of the crime.

As mentioned in the previous reports, the issue of due process has not been mentioned in the new amendments. All drug offences are processed by the Revolutionary Courts. Reports collected by IHR show that those arrested for drug offences are systematically subjected to torture during the weeks after their arrest. Often they have no access to a lawyer while in detention and by the time the lawyer enters the case they have already “confessed” to the crime.[5] Trials at the Revolutionary Courts are often very short and there is little the lawyer can do. The issue of due process and fair trials has not been addressed by the new amendments to the Anti-Narcotics Law.

For more details, please see the report by IHR “Execution trends six months after the anti-Narcotic Law” published in May 2018.[6]

References:

[1] https://iranhr.net/en/articles/3605/

[2] https://iranhr.net/en/articles/3378/

[3] ISNA, 3. July 2018: https://goo.gl/T2RL1E

[4] http://www.iribnews.ir/fa/print/2156809

[5] https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/12/16/iran-bid-end-drug-offense-executions

[6] https://iranhr.net/en/articles/3325/

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