Iranian MPs call for death penalty to be abolished in drugs cases

[Jefferson23]

Anti-death penalty campaigners say the bill could be linked to renewal of controversial UN anti-narcotics program

Seventy Iranian MPs have signed a proposal that would see the death penalty eliminated for people convicted of non-violent drug offences.

The lawmakers, a minority in Iran’s 290 parliamentarians, signed the bill on Tuesday, the first time such a proposal has come directly from Iranian politicians.

At least 69 percent of the almost 700 executions carried out in the first six months of 2015 were for non-violent drugs offences, in a country where being found in possession of as little 30 grams of certain drugs merits the death penalty.

This year has seen a huge spike in drugs-related executions, with campaigners saying more people have been put to death than in the preceding two decades.

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