Iranian MPs call for death penalty to be abolished in drugs cases
Anti-death penalty campaigners say the bill could be linked to renewal of controversial UN anti-narcotics program
Seventy Iranian MPs have signed a proposal that would see the death penalty eliminated for people convicted of non-violent drug offences.
The lawmakers, a minority in Irans 290 parliamentarians, signed the bill on Tuesday, the first time such a proposal has come directly from Iranian politicians.
At least 69 percent of the almost 700 executions carried out in the first six months of 2015 were for non-violent drugs offences, in a country where being found in possession of as little 30 grams of certain drugs merits the death penalty.
This year has seen a huge spike in drugs-related executions, with campaigners saying more people have been put to death than in the preceding two decades.
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