A/HRC/25/61 Arab Ahwazi minority community were executed for “acting against national security”, moharebeh and efsad fil-arz.62 83. Four additional Kurdish individuals – Jamshid and Jahanghir Dehgani, Hamed Ahmadi and Kamal Molayee – appear to be at imminent risk of execution for the “crimes” of moharebeh and efsad fil-arz.63 Sources have reported that they were convicted in the absence of fair trial standards. The Special Rapporteur urges the authorities to halt these executions, commute their sentences and investigate complaints of violations of fair trial guarantees.64 84. While the new Islamic Penal Code has excluded the possibility of execution for “security crimes” in which weapons were not used,65 it retains the death penalty for certain crimes not meeting international standards for “most serious”, including recidivist alcohol consumption, adultery, consensual homosexual sex and drug possession or trafficking.66 85. The drug problem faced by the Islamic Republic of Iran is both significant and complex. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated in 2011 that some 1.2 million Iranians were opiate users, one of the highest rates globally. Drug trafficking and related crimes have posed major law enforcement and security challenges. Iranian officials have estimated that the fight against drug addiction and trafficking costs $1 billion a year.67 86. The Islamic Republic of Iran prescribes the death penalty for a variety of drugrelated activities, including drug manufacturing and trafficking, but it can also be applied to the personal possession of 30g of heroin, morphine or specified synthetic and non-medical psychotropic drugs, such as methamphetamines, without an effective right of appeal.68 Drug offences continue to account for most cases of capital punishment in the country, resulting in the highest known per capita level of executions globally. It was estimated that at least 302 of the 624 executions held in 2013 were for alleged drug possession or trafficking,69 although the actual number is possibly higher, given that the reasons for the execution of another 90 individuals remain unknown. This application of the death penalty in the Islamic 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 Iran Human Rights, “Iran Human Rights condemns execution of four Ahwazi political prisoners”, 5 December 2013, available from http://iranhr.net/2013/12/iran-human-rights-condemns-execution-offour-ahwazi-political-prisoners-3/. Amnesty International, “Iran: Death sentences upheld, executions imminent: Jamshid Dehgani, Jahanghir Dehgani, Hamed Ahmadi and Kamal Molayee”, 19 September 2013, available from www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/037/2013/en. Amnesty International, “Iran: Halt the execution of four Kurds on death row”, 20 September 2013, available from www.amnesty.org/en/news/iran-halt-execution-four-kurds-death-row-2013-09-20. Information based on an interview conducted by the Special Rapporteur on 20 December 2013 with a lawyer currently practicing in the Islamic Republic of Iran and acquainted with the New Islamic Penal Code. Human Rights Watch, “Codifying Repression: An Assessment of Iran’s New Penal Code”, 28 August 2013, available from www.hrw.org/reports/2012/08/28/codifying-repression. “Iran’s FM says next year “drug tsunami” to hit region”, Trend, 26 April 2013, available from http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2143925.html. The new Anti-Narcotics Law of 2011 provides for mandatory death sentences for the heads of drug gangs or networks, but also for trafficking or possession of more than 30 g of crystal methamphetamine or other psychedelic substances, such as crack and heroin. See Amnesty International, “Addicted to Death: Executions for Drugs Offences in Iran”, 2011, available from www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE13/090/2011/en/0564f064-e965-4fad-b0626de232a08162/mde130902011en.pdf. Iran Human Rights, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran 2013, 12 March 2014, available from http://iranhr.net/2014/03/report-death-penalty-iran-2013/. 19