Civil and Political Rights. For example, in Iran the death penalty may be applied in some cases of adultery,19 for certain cases of consensual same-sex intercourse between men20 or for vaguely defined offences such as moharebeh (“enmity against God”)21 and efsad-e fel-arz (“corruption on earth”).22 In November 2017, an amendment made to the law on drug trafficking entered into force, replacing the mandatory death penalty with a prison term of up to 30 years for non-violent drugrelated offences and increasing the quantity of drugs required for a death sentence to be imposed. However, mandatory death sentences for numerous drug-related offences remained and a number of crimes, in specific circumstances, were transformed into capital crimes for first-time offenders.23 In 2019, 30 individuals were reportedly executed on drug-related charges.24 The Human Rights Committee has consistently underscored that drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” and the death penalty should not be applied to them.25 Despite the existence of several means and mechanisms that accept complaints regarding the violation of rights in Iran, such as the Judge’s Disciplinary Court, the Parliament’s Article 90 Commission and, in general, any courts of appeals including the Supreme Court, there is little evidence to suggest that these complaints are properly investigated and adjudicated. Iran does not have any administrative processes or independent human rights monitoring mechanisms in place to ensure the prohibition of capital punishments. Between January 2015 and December 2018, the Islamic Republic of Iran reportedly executed at least 2,303 people.26 Reports received by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) indicated a decrease in the number of executions between 2017 and 2018 (437 in 2017 compared to 207 in 2018 for the same period).27 Iran Human Rights and ECPM reported that the Islamic republic carried out at least 273 executions in 2018, 280 in 2019, and 267 in 2020.28 While the amended drug trafficking law reduced the number of offences punishable by the death penalty, the Islamic Republic of Iran still has a wide range of capital crimes. In 2019, Iran was 19 Islamic Penal Code (2013) articles 136 and 225 Islamic Penal Code (2013) article 235 21 Islamic Penal Code (2013) article 279 22 Islamic Penal Code (2013) article 286 23 Drug trafficking law, articles 8 and 45. 24 ECPM, Iran Human Rights, https://www.ecpm.org/wp-content/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420-WEB.pdf 25 CCPR/C/PAK/CO/1, para. 17; CCPR/C/THA/CO/2, para. 17; CCPR/C/KWT/CO/3, para. 22; A/71/372, para. 48; and Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36. 26 Amnesty International, https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/MDE1305732019ENGLISH.PDF 27 Report of the UN Secretary General on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, February 2019, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/028/77/PDF/G1902877.pdf?OpenElement 28 https://iranhr.net/media/files/Rapport_iran_2021-gb-290321-BD.pdf 20 4