Iran Hangs 11 on Drug Charges in 48 Hrs

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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Iran Hangs 11 on Drug Charges in 48 Hrs

The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)
The Iranian flag waves in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Vienna, Austria May 23, 2021. (Reuters)

Iran hanged 11 on drugs charges within a 48-hour period, Norway-based Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Wednesday.

They were hanged between the early morning on Sunday and early Tuesday, it noted.

The group added that it recorded a total of 61 executions across Iran in July as Iran presses ahead with a surge in capital punishment that has now seen the country put to death 423 people this year.

Campaigners accuse Iran of using capital punishment as an instrument to spread fear throughout the population in the wake of the protest movement that erupted last September over the death of Mahsa Amini, 22. The Iranian-Kurdish woman had been detained for allegedly flouting the Islamic republic's strict dress rules for women.

Eight men were executed on drugs charges in the main prison of Zahedan between July 30 and August 1, it said.

Another man was executed on similar charges on July 31 at a prison in Birjand city in the eastern province of Khorosan, it added.

Mohammad Arbab, 30, and 32-year-old Asadollah Amini, two Afghan nationals, were secretly executed in Zabol Prison in Sistan-Baluchistan on 30 and 31 July, it said, AFP reported.

The number of executions in Iran on drug-related charges dropped dramatically in 2018 following amendments to the anti-narcotics law but has surged again since 2021.

Rights groups say the demonstrations were targets of deadly crackdowns by the security forces in Iran's poorest region.



China Sends Naval, Air Forces to Shadow US Plane over Taiwan Strait

A ship sails between wind turbines in the Taiwan strait off the coast of Pingtan Island, Fujian province, China, April 10, 2023. (Reuters)
A ship sails between wind turbines in the Taiwan strait off the coast of Pingtan Island, Fujian province, China, April 10, 2023. (Reuters)
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China Sends Naval, Air Forces to Shadow US Plane over Taiwan Strait

A ship sails between wind turbines in the Taiwan strait off the coast of Pingtan Island, Fujian province, China, April 10, 2023. (Reuters)
A ship sails between wind turbines in the Taiwan strait off the coast of Pingtan Island, Fujian province, China, April 10, 2023. (Reuters)

China's military said on Tuesday it deployed naval and air forces to monitor and warn a US Navy patrol aircraft that flew through the sensitive Taiwan Strait, denouncing the United States for trying to "mislead" the international community.

Around once a month, US military ships or aircraft pass through or above the waterway that separates democratically governed Taiwan from China - missions that always anger Beijing.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and says it has jurisdiction over the strait. Taiwan and the United States dispute that, saying the strait is an international waterway.

The US Navy's 7th fleet said a P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft had flown through the strait "in international airspace", adding that the flight demonstrated the United States' commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

"By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations," it said in a statement.

China's military criticized the flight as "public hype", adding that it monitored the US aircraft throughout its transit and "effectively" responded to the situation.

"The relevant remarks by the US distort legal principles, confuse public opinion and mislead international perceptions," the military's Eastern Theater Command said in a statement.

"We urge the US side to stop distorting and hyping up and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability."

In April, China's military said it sent fighter jets to monitor and warn a US Navy Poseidon in the Taiwan Strait, a mission that took place just hours after a call between the Chinese and US defense chiefs.