Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council, said that Iran is looking to end the death penalty for drug related cases, which he said account for 80% of the country’s executions. His comments followed statements by the head of Iran’s judiciary, who earlier said that the country’s drug laws were not effective and need to be reformed.
In a Dec. 4 English-language interview with France 24’s Sanam Shantyaei, Javad Larijani said, “No one is happy to see the number of executions is high. And it’s a sad story that we have this much drug related crime. … According to the existing law, … they are receiving capital punishment.”