December 26-2014
Six international groups have urged the United Nations to halt or at least freeze its support for Iran’s drug interdiction program until the Islamic Republic stops its executions of drug traffickers.
Three of the six signers of the appeal are Iranians.
The letter went to Yury Fedotov, the Russian who heads the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Fedotov announced just a few months ago that the UN would continue supporting Iran’s counter-drug efforts despite the executions in violation of international law.
The six groups noted that UNODC “advocates for the abolition of the death penalty,” but cited Fedotov as saying he was “gratified” by recent public statements by high-level Iranian officials talking about a possible reduction in use of the death penalty for drug offenders.
The six groups said, “As much as we would like to believe such statements offer hope of real change, it is impossible to ignore the gulf between Iran’s rhetoric and the realities of its justice system.”
It pointed out that Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council, said he wished to end executions for drug offences, “while just one day earlier authorities executed 18 convicted drug offenders across the country’s prisons.”
The groups said the number of people executed for drug trafficking in Iran is rising.
They noted Fedotov had said that executions had been “the subject of many high-level discussions” with Iranian counterparts. “But,” the six groups wrote, “the rising number of such executions suggests the UNODC’s approach is ineffective if not counterproductive.” They pointed out that Judiciary Chairman Sadeq Larijani recently rebuked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for criticizing Iran’s rising number of executions.
The six groups said the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark have all ended their support for Iranian counter-narcotics operations “because of concerns that this funding was enabling the execution of alleged drug traffickers.”
The letter concluded: “We ask that the UNODC act in line with this policy and immediately freeze or withdraw its support for counter-narcotics supply control operations in Iran until the death penalty for drug offences is abolished.”
The six groups are Human Rights Watch, Iran Human Rights, the Abdurrahman Boroumand Foundation, World Coalition Against the Death Penalty, Reprieve and Harm Reduction International. The signers for the first three of the groups were Iranians.
