[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 14




MALAYSIA:

Langkawi cops nab Thai drug pusher with gun, RM25k worth of drugs



Police seized a pistol with 5 live bullets from a Thai drug pusher when he was 
nabbed at a petrol station in Kampung Temonyong here early on Tuesday.

Police also confiscated various types of drugs with a street value of RM25,000.

In the 12.01am bust, the district's Narcotics Investigation Department 
approached the 35-year-old man at the petrol station, as he was behaving 
suspiciously.

"Upon noticing the police team's presence, the man tried to flee from the scene 
but our men managed to apprehend him.

"The team found a .9mm automatic Browning pistol with 5 live ammunitions in the 
man's sling bag.

"They also seized plastic bags containing heroin, methamphetamine and ketamine 
with a total street value of RM25,000," Langkawi police chief Assistant 
Commissioner Dr Che Ghazali Che Awang said during a press conference at his 
office.

Present was his deputy, Deputy Superintendent Mahani Mohamed.

Ghazali said the man also tested positive for methamphetamine.

Police have classified the case under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 
1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.

The man is also being investigated under Section 8 of the Firearms Act 
(Improved Penalty) 1971 and Section 8(a) of the Firearms Act 1969 for illegal 
possession of a pistol which carries a jail term of up to 14 years and 6 lashes 
of the whip.

(source: New Straits Times)








IRAN:

New Iran law set to radically decrease executions----A new law in Iran has been 
written to reduce the death penalty for drug smugglers carrying smaller 
amounts.



Iran's new law for combating drugs will be implemented beginning Nov. 14. The 
law - passed by the Reformist majority parliament and approved by the 
conservative Guardian Council - is set to decrease the number of people 
executed in Iran, which leads the world in executions on a per capita basis. 
Agencies in Iran responsible for combating drug smuggling, however, have warned 
that the new law will increase drug use.

According to the law, those convicted of drug smuggling will be sentenced to 
time in prison instead of the death penalty and will be ordered to pay fines. 
The law itself does not completely ban the death penalty. Those caught 
smuggling a large amount of designated drugs - for instance, 3 kilograms (6.6 
pounds) of heroin - can still be sentenced to death. Drug-smuggling leaders, 
those who carry arms, financiers of drug smuggling and those who use children 
under the age of 18 will still be subject to the death penalty. Still, 
according to most observers, the law will decrease the number of death 
penalties in Iran for drug-related offenses.

The Iran Drug Control Headquarters, which is tasked with drug addiction 
treatment, combating drug smuggling and preventing addiction, warned that the 
law will increase access and use of drugs in Iran. Parviz Afshar, spokesperson 
for the Drug Control Headquarters, said, "We believe that - for a country whose 
neighbor is the world's largest producers of drugs [Afghanistan] - completely 
eliminating the death penalty is not possible."

Afshar noted that a suitable replacement for the death penalty needed to be 
found rather than just prison time and fines. According to him, confiscating 
the property of drug smugglers should have been considered in the new law. He 
also warned that some drug smugglers are also involved in terrorism, money 
laundering and armed crimes.

Yahya Kamalipour, an Iranian parliament member and deputy president of 
parliament's legal and judicial commission, explained his support for the bill. 
"For 20 years I have been a judge and prosecutor and I know well the situation 
of the prisons and the families of prisoners," he said. "90 % of the executions 
for drug offenses were smugglers who were forced to carry drugs due to a bad 
event such as dowry for their daughters or surgery for their mothers. We have 
taken the death penalty from these people. But [as far as] the prime agents and 
those who deserve the death penalty, this punishment will be implemented."

The bill still leaves Iran's hard-line judiciary - which only answers to Iran's 
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - enough leeway to interpret the law as 
they see fit. The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, has 
previously said that Iran would not eliminate the death penalty for drug 
smugglers, saying that without the death penalty the situation with drug use in 
Iran would be worse.

Iranian officials have been openly debating ending or reducing the death 
penalty for drug smuggling since December 2015, when 70 members of parliament 
proposed the bill. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Human 
Rights Council who has supported ending the death penalty for drug use, said 
that if Iran were to eliminate the death penalty for drug use, it would reduce 
the death penalty in Iran by 80%.

(source: al-monitor.com)