International Law Review

International Law Review

Death Penalty for Drug-Related Offences in Iran’s Legal System under International Human Rights Norms: Abolition or Maintenance?

Document Type : academic

Authors
Mohammad ali Solhchi 1
shahriar Nasiri 2
1 Associate professor of international law at Allame Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran.
2 Iinternational Law , Allame Tabatabaei University, Tehran, Iran
10.22066/cilamag.2018.31887
Abstract
Iran legal system like some other legal systems recognizes and applies the death penalty for drug-related offenses. On the other hand, many States have abolished the death penalty in their laws or practice or at least do not apply it in cases relating to drug-related offenses. So, the main question of this article is whether or not Iran’s criminal policy in this regard is compatible with international human rights norms. Present studies show that under international human rights law, especially under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the application of capital punishment, while not prohibited, is restricted in exceptional ways. The death penalty may be imposed only for the most serious crimes under some requirements. The studies show that drug-related offenses do not have exceptional feature and they are not an instance of “most serious crimes”, and so could not be subject to capital punishments. Thus, Iran has to abolish the death penalty for drug-related offenses in the light of its international and human rights obligations which would be more compatible with constitutional and Islamic foundations of its own legislation.
Keywords
Drug-Related Offenses
Death Penalty
International Human Rights
Abolition of Capital Punishment
Right to Life
Narcotic Drugs

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    الف. فارسی

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  • Receive Date 02 July 2017
  • Revise Date 30 July 2017
  • Accept Date 03 September 2017