The Human Rights Committee has consistently underscored that drug-related offences do not meet the threshold of “most serious crimes” and that the death penalty should not be applied to them.24 The Islamic Republic of Iran has amended its Anti-narcotic Law but has not replaced all death penalties for drug-related offences by penalties which comply with relevant international standards. E. The Government should also put an end to public executions Article 499 of the revised Code of Criminal Procedure (2015) generally prohibits the execution of punishments, including execution, flogging and stoning, in public, but allows the judge or the prosecutor to order otherwise if deemed preventive.25 The preventive effect, and supposed benefit, of public executions is considered common knowledge among judges who support such practice.26 In 2008, then-head of the Judiciary, Ayatollah Shahroudi, issued a directive entitled the Public Prohibition of Execution,27 effectively banning public executions. However, directives and circulars are not considered as law. Public executions are still practiced in the Islamic Republic of Iran and every year a number of public executions are recorded. In 2019, 13 individuals were reportedly executed in public spaces in Iran.28 According to the latest regulations issued by the current head of the Judiciary in 2019, the presence of persons under 18 years of age at public executions is prohibited, unless the judge decides otherwise.29 The Human Rights Committee has opined that public executions are contrary to Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights30 and therefore inevitably render the execution arbitrary in nature, thus a violation of Article 6.31 24 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. 25 The Code of Criminal Procedure (adopted in 2013): < https://shenasname.ir/laws/2327-keifari > 26 <https://p.dw.com/p/12Y5C > 27 Hamshahri Newspaper: < https://www.hamshahrionline.ir/news/43036/> 28 ECPM & Iran Human Rights, Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, 2019, https://www.ecpm.org/wpcontent/uploads/Rapport-iran-2020-gb-070420-WEB.pdf 29 Note 2 of Article 43 of the regulation on the Execution of Hudud and Qisas Sentences (Adopted on June 17, 2019): < http://rrk.ir/Laws/ShowLaw.aspx?Code=18022 > 30 Human Rights Committee, CCPR/CO/72/PRK, para. 13, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CCPR/CO/72/PRK&Lang=En 31 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 36 (2018) on the right to life, para. 40, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CCPR/Shared%20Documents/1_Global/CCPR_C_GC_36_8785_E.pdf 5