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DEFENDERS
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Au t umn&wi n t e r
2 0 1 4 & 2 0 1 5
In human rights reports on the Islamic
Republic of Iran, there are different criticisms
of the death penalty, including: the high
number of death penalties; the high number of
crimes for which a death sentence is handed
down; death sentences for juvenile offenders
(under the age of 18); death sentences issued
by courts that allegedly lack justice and do not
meet the guarantees for fair trial established by
international law, including the Revolutionary
Courts; vaguely formulated crimes such as
moharebeh or fisad-fil-arz (corruption on
earth);methodsof execution, includingstoning
or crucifixion; secret executions; execution
for offences that do not qualify as the “most
serious crimes” from western law viewpoint,
including insulting the Prophet Mohammad,
or robbery for the fourth time.
Some of the crimes that do not qualify as
the “most serious crimes” under international
law, and from the Special Rapporteur and the
UN Secretary General viewpoints are drug-
related offences.
1
Paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the Convention
of Civil and Political Rights defines the
threshold for death penalty:
“In countries which have not abolished
the death penalty, sentence of death may be
imposed only for the most serious crimes in
accordance with the law in force at the time of
the commission of the crime and not contrary
to the provisions of the present Covenant
and to the Convention on the Prevention and
Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
Since the mentioned threshold is not clearly
defined in International Law, the international
human right organizations have enumerated
the following necessities:
Threshold necessary to satisfy the
requirements of Article 6(2)
1. “Most serious crimes” should be
interpreted in the most restrictive and
exceptional manner possible
2. The death penalty should only be
considered in cases where the crime is
intentional, and results in lethal or extremely
grave consequences
3. States should repeal legislation allowing
capital punishment for economic, non- violent
or victimless offences
TheUNSpecialRapporteuronExtrajudicial,
Summary or Arbitrary Executions (1996) has
alleged that:
“[T]he death penalty should be eliminated
for crimes such as economic crimes and drug-
related offences.”
2
The present paper, considers International
Covenants froma legal aspect, anda theoretical
viewpoint, discusses whether drug-related
offences can be considered as “most serious
crimes” or not. This paper is not aiming at
taking sides or deny the criticism about human
right situation in Iran. But, choosing a legal
approach, it is making attempts to clarify the
seriousness of “drug related crimes”, which
is turned into a political tool in recent years,
leaving less opportunity for a theoretical
criticism of the concept.
I) Drug-related Crimes in International
Instruments
• Palermo Convention (on Transnational
Organized Crime) (2000)
Regarding punishment, according to this
convention (Article 2, paragraph b), “serious
crime” shall mean conduct constituting an
offence punishable by a maximumdeprivation
of liberty of at least four years or a more
serious penalty.
According to the convention, serious crimes
include:
Participation in an organized criminal group
(Article 5)
Laundering (Article 6)
Corruption (Article 8)
Obstruction of Justice (Article 23) The
use of physical force, threats or intimidation
or the promise, offering or giving of an
undue advantage to induce false testimony
or to interfere in the giving of testimony or
the production of evidence in a proceeding
in relation to the commission of mentioned
offences;
Regarding the scope of the crime, serious
The Threshold of Punishment of Illicit Trafficking
of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances in
International Law
1- See the Special Rapporteur’s
report (2013)
2-A “most serious crime”?
International Human Rights
Law and the Death Penalty for
Drug Offences, Rick Lines, 18th
International Conference on the
Reduction of Drug-Related Harm
Warsaw, Poland
By: Dr.Alireza Deihim
Member of ODVV board of
directos