Iran under pressure to abolish death penalty for drug trafficking

By Saeed Kamali Dehghan - The Guardian

Iran is under pressure to end its use of death penalty against drug traffickers after facing a serious shortfall in the international funding of the country’s counter-narcotics campaign.

An increasing number of European countries have decided to cut off contributions even though the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) last year approved a five-year country partnership programme for Iran that was aimed at providing about $20m (then £14.4m).

The agency’s latest annual appeal document, obtained by the human rights groupReprieve, which works for the abolition of death penalty, shows that Tehran has received no money in funding for 2016. The UK has confirmed in writing that it is no longer contributing. Similar indications have come from Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Ireland and Norway.

Two senior Iranian officials have recently complained about the lack of international support. Last week, Iran’s prosecutor general, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, blamed “imperialist” powers for young people’s addiction to drugs. In April, the Tehran Times quoted the interior minister as saying that Europeans were uncooperative.

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