Four prisoners executed in Iran
Four men were hanged in Iran's northern Rasht city on October
19.
One of the hanged men was previously arrested for heroin
possession, while another 46-year old man was arrested and charged
for carrying and selling opium. The other two hanged men were
charged for buying methamphetamine and heroin, IRIB news agency
reported.
Drug trafficking as well as murder, rape and armed robbery are
among the crimes that are punishable by death in Iran.
Iran ranks second, after China, in terms of the number of
executions in the world.
At least 852 people were executed in Iran from July 2013 to June
2014, according to the latest report of the UN special rapporteur
on human rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed.
Iran exists on a major drug route between Afghanistan and Europe,
as well as the Persian Gulf states. The Islamic Republic shares
about 900 kilometers of a common border with Afghanistan, through
which about 74 percent of opium is smuggled.
According to official estimates, fight against drugs annually cost
Iran about $1 billion. The statistics also say that there are about
2 million of drug users in Iran.
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