There has been a dramatic rise in executions related to drug offenses in Iran, Amnesty International said on Thursday.
Iran killed 488 people, many of them impoverished, for alleged drug-related offenses in 2011, which is a sharp increase over the 166 executions recorded in 2009, Amnesty said.
“To try to contain their immense drug problem, the Iranian authorities have carried out a killing spree of staggering proportions, when there is no evidence that execution prevents drug smuggling any more effectively than imprisonment,”stated Amnesty Middle East regional chief Ann Harrison.
Iran is a major hub for narcotics smugglers, many of whom come from neighboring Afghanistan.
Amnesty called on Iran to put an end to such executions.
The London-based rights group also said that Iran’s justice system was also suspect and said many trials for accused drug offenders were not fair, while family members were rarely given warning that their loved ones would be executed.
Around 4,000 Afghan nationals are thought to be on death row in Iran for drug offenses and “appear to be particularly poorly treated by the justice system,” Amnesty said.
