Nov. 14
MALAYSIA:
Langkawi cops nab Thai drug pusher with gun, RM25k worth of drugs
Police seized a pistol with 5 live bullets from a Thai drug pusher when he was
nabbed at a petrol station in Kampung Temonyong here early on Tuesday.
Police also confiscated various types of drugs with a street value of RM25,000.
In the 12.01am bust, the district's Narcotics Investigation Department
approached the 35-year-old man at the petrol station, as he was behaving
suspiciously.
"Upon noticing the police team's presence, the man tried to flee from the scene
but our men managed to apprehend him.
"The team found a .9mm automatic Browning pistol with 5 live ammunitions in the
man's sling bag.
"They also seized plastic bags containing heroin, methamphetamine and ketamine
with a total street value of RM25,000," Langkawi police chief Assistant
Commissioner Dr Che Ghazali Che Awang said during a press conference at his
office.
Present was his deputy, Deputy Superintendent Mahani Mohamed.
Ghazali said the man also tested positive for methamphetamine.
Police have classified the case under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act
1952 which carries the mandatory death penalty upon conviction.
The man is also being investigated under Section 8 of the Firearms Act
(Improved Penalty) 1971 and Section 8(a) of the Firearms Act 1969 for illegal
possession of a pistol which carries a jail term of up to 14 years and 6 lashes
of the whip.
(source: New Straits Times)
IRAN:
New Iran law set to radically decrease executions----A new law in Iran has been
written to reduce the death penalty for drug smugglers carrying smaller
amounts.
Iran's new law for combating drugs will be implemented beginning Nov. 14. The
law - passed by the Reformist majority parliament and approved by the
conservative Guardian Council - is set to decrease the number of people
executed in Iran, which leads the world in executions on a per capita basis.
Agencies in Iran responsible for combating drug smuggling, however, have warned
that the new law will increase drug use.
According to the law, those convicted of drug smuggling will be sentenced to
time in prison instead of the death penalty and will be ordered to pay fines.
The law itself does not completely ban the death penalty. Those caught
smuggling a large amount of designated drugs - for instance, 3 kilograms (6.6
pounds) of heroin - can still be sentenced to death. Drug-smuggling leaders,
those who carry arms, financiers of drug smuggling and those who use children
under the age of 18 will still be subject to the death penalty. Still,
according to most observers, the law will decrease the number of death
penalties in Iran for drug-related offenses.
The Iran Drug Control Headquarters, which is tasked with drug addiction
treatment, combating drug smuggling and preventing addiction, warned that the
law will increase access and use of drugs in Iran. Parviz Afshar, spokesperson
for the Drug Control Headquarters, said, "We believe that - for a country whose
neighbor is the world's largest producers of drugs [Afghanistan] - completely
eliminating the death penalty is not possible."
Afshar noted that a suitable replacement for the death penalty needed to be
found rather than just prison time and fines. According to him, confiscating
the property of drug smugglers should have been considered in the new law. He
also warned that some drug smugglers are also involved in terrorism, money
laundering and armed crimes.
Yahya Kamalipour, an Iranian parliament member and deputy president of
parliament's legal and judicial commission, explained his support for the bill.
"For 20 years I have been a judge and prosecutor and I know well the situation
of the prisons and the families of prisoners," he said. "90 % of the executions
for drug offenses were smugglers who were forced to carry drugs due to a bad
event such as dowry for their daughters or surgery for their mothers. We have
taken the death penalty from these people. But [as far as] the prime agents and
those who deserve the death penalty, this punishment will be implemented."
The bill still leaves Iran's hard-line judiciary - which only answers to Iran's
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - enough leeway to interpret the law as
they see fit. The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, has
previously said that Iran would not eliminate the death penalty for drug
smugglers, saying that without the death penalty the situation with drug use in
Iran would be worse.
Iranian officials have been openly debating ending or reducing the death
penalty for drug smuggling since December 2015, when 70 members of parliament
proposed the bill. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Human
Rights Council who has supported ending the death penalty for drug use, said
that if Iran were to eliminate the death penalty for drug use, it would reduce
the death penalty in Iran by 80%.
(source: al-monitor.com)
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