ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A Baghdad court on Monday handed a death sentence for a drug dealer of foreign nationality accused of bringing narcotics into the country, state media reported.
“The convict brought narcotic substances into Iraq for the purpose of trafficking them and selling them among drug users,” state media said, citing a statement by Baghdad’s Karkh Criminal Court.
The verdict was issued in accordance with Article 27 of the Iraqi Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law.
The Article states that any suspect charged with exporting, importing, producing, or planting narcotic substances “with the intent of trading it” shall be sentenced to either death of life imprisonment.
There has been an alarming rise in drug dealing and use in Iraq in recent years, despite strict measures taken by the government to curb the phenomenon.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani has ordered the establishment of rehabilitation centers in all Iraqi provinces, excluding the Kurdistan Region, as part of his cabinet’s commitment to combat drugs with the same determination as it fights terrorism.
In 2023, more than 19,000 people were arrested across Iraq on drug-related charges and over 15 tons of psychotropic substances were seized.
