Iran hangs 14 for drug trafficking

TEHRAN, May 21 – Iran on Monday hanged 14 people in Tehran after they were convicted of drug trafficking, a statement from the Tehran prosecutor’s office said.

The report identified them only by their initials.

The Islamic republic is one of the world’s main practitioners of capital punishment, along with China, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

London-based Amnesty International said in its annual review of death sentences and executions worldwide published in March that Iran had executed at least 360 people in 2011, three-quarters of them for drugs offences, up from at least 252 in 2010.

In 2010, the rights group Human Rights Watch counted 388 executions, while Amnesty International counted 252.

Iran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

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