Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran�s Human Rights Council, said that Iran is looking to end the�death penalty�for drug related cases, which he said account for 80% of the country�s executions. His comments followed statements by the head of Iran�s judiciary, who earlier said that the country�s drug laws were not effective and need to be reformed.
In a�Dec.�4�English-language interview with France 24�s Sanam Shantyaei, Javad Larijani said, �No one is happy to see the number of executions is high. And it�s a sad story that we have this much drug related crime. � According to the existing law, � they are receiving capital punishment.�

Javad Larijani continued, �We are crusading to change this law. If we are successful, if the law passes the parliament, almost�80% of the executions will go away. This is big news for us, regardless of the Western criticism.� His statements were picked up and translated by Iran�s Persian-language�Fars News Agency.

While not speaking as explicitly as Javad Larijani, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, Javad Larijani�s brother and the head of Iran�s judiciary, addressed the need to change the country�s drug laws. During a�Dec. 2�meeting of judiciary officials, he said, �On the issue of drugs and trafficking, it feels necessary that�we need a change in the legislation�because the ultimate goal of the law should be implementing justice, while in reality, this goal is often not realized.�

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