300 traffickers on death row

SOME 300 drug traffickers are on death row in Iran, the judiciary has announced, reflecting Tehran’s hard line on narcotics which has added to international concerns over its extensive use of capital punishment.

“For 300 drug-related convicts, including those who were in possession of at least 30 grammes of heroin, execution verdicts have been issued,” Sharq daily quoted Tehran prosecutor-general Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi as saying yesterday.

Although the list was long it did not contain any big-time traffickers or ringleaders, he said.