IRELAND: GOVERNMENT CEASED ANTI-DRUG PROGRAMME FUNDING OVER IRAN DEATH PENALTY FEARS

November 8, 2013: Ireland stopped funding an anti-drug programme in Iran because of concerns that drug traffickers detected under the scheme were being sentenced to death. The Department of Foreign Affairs said funding to the United Nations-run project ceased because of human rights concerns related to the use of the death penalty.
During 2010 and 2011 Ireland provided a total of 100,000 euros to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Some 60,000 of that money was used to fund a programme in Iran designed to increase drug detections by providing assistance to anti-narcotic police and customs officers.
It has now emerged that Ireland withdrew its funding from the programme at the end of 2011.
The organisation Reprieve which campaigns against the death penalty has welcomed the decision. (Sources: www.rte.ie, 08/11/2013)