Iran to hang drug dealer twice Amnesty International has called for his second execution to be stopped. This is simply ghastly. It betrays a basic lack of humanity that sadly underpins much of Iran's justice system," said Philip Luther, the organisation's director for Middle East and North Africa. The horrific prospect of this man facing a second hanging, after having gone through the whole ordeal already once, merely underlines the cruelty and inhumanity of the death penalty. The Iranian authorities must immediately halt Alireza M's execution and issue a moratorium on all others. Already this year, Iran is believed to have executed at least 508 people, including 221 executions that have not been officially confirmed. The majority of those executed were convicted of drug offences. Mohammad Javad Larijani, the secretary general of the Iranian judiciary's high council for human rights, expressed doubts in 2011 that the death penalty reduces crimes related to drug trafficking.