Tougher punishments for narcotics designed to intimidate the public

Mullahs' Prosecutor General Morteza Moqtada'i said yesterday that the punishment for those involved in narcotics has been increased according to a law adopted by the Council for the Discernment of State Exigencies.

According to this law, those possessing more than 30 grams of heroin or five kilos of opium will be sentenced to death and for lesser amounts to life imprisonment, lashes and seizure of property.

The increase in such punishments aims to terrorize and intimidate the public. The mullahs' leaders, meanwhile, control many drug-smuggling rings. In recent years, many dissidents and political prisoners have been executed on the pretext of drug trafficking.

The Guardian Council cited involvement in "possession of narcotics" as the reason for rejecting the competence of a number candidates for the Assembly of Experts. The candidates are among well-known figures in the regime's different factions.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
October 1, 1998

Back Home