Nearly a year and a half after announcing that Iran would reconsider its frequent execution of drug offenders, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council, is still calling for Iran to lower its execution rate for drug-related crimes.
Speaking to reporters at a May 16 conference titled “Finding the court’s role in protecting the accused,” Larijani couched his concerns in diplomatic terms, saying, “We need to have a [better] method to fight against drugs. It’s possible that execution is not the only path, or that high execution rates do not have a desirable result. We recommend that the legislation … be reconsidered.”