This is a picture of a beautiful flower.
Hamid Yazdanpanah

“The death penalty has no place in the 21st century.” These words are part of the speech of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, which was delivered last year. Many agree with this theory. In fact, more than 140 countries around the world have abolished the death penalty. This action includes all countries in the European Union.

But the United Nations and European Union countries provide financial assistance to Iran for fighting against drugs; a program that has allowed Iran to take the global lead in executions based on population size.

The Iranian regime is one of the most oppressive governments in the world. According to a report published by “Freedom House” in 2015, Iran has the lowest ranking in terms of human rights and social freedoms, and ranks 173 out of 180 countries in the “World Press Freedom Index”.

Opponents are constantly at risk of arrest, torture, and harassment, freedom of speech is very limited, and the judicial system avoids providing the minimum facilities for going through legal procedures. All of this is happening while the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has provided Iran with more than fifteen million dollars since 1988 to support Iran’s anti-drug operations and activities. This action is exactly contrary to very obvious evidence that shows that the Iranian government has violated international laws related to combating drugs and its performance is much lower than the standards set by the UNODC.

In one of his reports in 2014, Ahmad Shahid, in a special report by the United Nations on the human rights situation in Iran, quotes an experienced and prominent Iranian lawyer who says that drug trials “never last more than a few minutes.”

Prisoners are usually deprived of having a lawyer and legal counsel, and most of them claim that their confessions were made under force and torture.

According to statements from officials in Iran, 93% of the 852 reported executions from July 2012 to June 2013 were related to drug offenses. Iran has executed more than 750 people so far this year and it is believed that they intend to reach a total of 1,000 by the end of the year.

The Human Rights Watch organization accuses Iran of executing political prisoners and dissidents under the guise of drug charges, and expresses concern about the involvement of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in supporting the country’s drug control program.

In 2011, Zahra Bahrami, a resident citizen of European countries and Iran who had been arrested, was accused of drug trafficking (she denied the accusation). She claimed that her statements were all forced and her supporters declared that the reason for her arrest was due to her political views and ideas.

Despite the limitations of the United Nations’ drug branch, the execution laws in Iran go beyond the issue of combating drugs. Instead of focusing on the main problems such as poverty and lack of opportunities for young people, which are the reasons for their involvement in drugs, Iran continues to impose individual punishments, including public and inhumane executions. It seems that this method of killing and execution is a strategy by the Iranian regime to maintain its political power by creating an atmosphere of fear and terror. This type of killing is part of the regime’s policy of death, which seeks to suppress and intimidate the people, most of whom are under the age of thirty.

Violation of International Human Rights

From a legal perspective, there is ample evidence that executions in Iran are a blatant and egregious violation of international human rights laws; precisely according to what is stated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In this covenant, which Iran and European Union countries are a part of, the death penalty is explicitly and exclusively reserved for the “most serious crimes”. In Article 6, it is explicitly emphasized that the death penalty shall not be carried out under any circumstances if a fair trial is not possible, which clearly shows that there is no legal process in Iran.

The United Nations branch on drugs has released a critical statement regarding their involvement in this matter in Iran. The statement states that cooperation with countries where executions take place “can be interpreted as legitimizing the government’s actions” and concludes that in these circumstances, the only solution for this institution is “to temporarily stop or end their support.” However, despite this, the UN branch on drugs has not publicly announced any plans to stop their aid and support for Iran’s program.

Political conflicts and human rights

The political support of European Union member countries that are helping Iran is evident. The United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland have stopped their financial support for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s program in Iran due to concerns about human rights violations in the country. Meanwhile, countries like Norway and France continue to provide this assistance. Earlier this year, rumors circulated about the termination of another five-year agreement between the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Iran, but no official announcement has been made yet.

Unfortunately, these types of policies reflect a larger failure by Western countries to use human rights violations as an excuse to negotiate with Iran. It seems that they use their role as human rights champions as a convenient excuse to invade and interfere in specific countries, while this interpretation has a negative impact on their foreign policy decisions and interests.

This way of thinking suggests that the continuous executions of thousands of Iranians is a necessary action that must be taken in the fight against drug trafficking to prevent the spread of drugs in European Union member countries. This stance is not only strange for those living outside of Europe, but it seems as if their human rights are above those of international organizations. However, this issue puts Western countries in a hypocritical and dualistic position.

There is no need for anyone to focus on other issues besides what is happening in the margins of the nuclear negotiations with Iran in order to see a clear and obvious example. Recently, Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, visited Iran to be able to negotiate on the nuclear agreements, but did not express any concern about Iran’s history of human rights violations. This meeting took place while the Iranian regime was preparing to execute Salar Shadizadi, a young man who had been sentenced to death for a crime committed at the age of 15.

If there was a global treaty for international laws and human rights, the United Nations branch for drug control should have stopped supporting Iran’s drug program and requested urgent judicial reform for the issue of executions. Member countries of the European Union should demand accountability for their financial aid and how it is being used.

Finally, any atomic agreement must recognize the issue of human rights and consider the demands of the Iranian society regarding social and political rights. It should also acknowledge the gross violations of human rights in Iran as part of these negotiations.

This action does not mean interfering in the internal and independent affairs of any country, except for being a fundamental step in support of human rights values, the same principle on which the United Nations is founded. This action also helps advance international human rights, which in this particular case, must be given even more importance. The issue of the death penalty and capital punishment can only come to an end when we have enough political will to implement the ideas that we have been preaching about for a long time.