BANGLADESH: DEATH PENALTY FOR DRUG OFFENSES APPROVED

The production, smuggling, sale, and use of methamphetamines will be punishable by death in Bangladesh, which has followed the Philippines’ Duterte and launched a brutal war on drugs that has seen more than 200 killed since May.
The draft law, approved by the government on 7 October 2018, defined methamphetamines, which are called ‘yaba’ in the country, and other drugs, referred to as ‘shisha’, as narcotic substances for the first time in Bangladesh’s history.
The amended Narcotics Control Act calls for “the death sentence as maximum punishment for producing, smuggling, distribution and use of more than 5 gm of ‘yaba,’” Mohammad Shafiul Alam, cabinet secretary, told journalists.
Offenses dealing with smaller quantities of methamphetamines would carry a maximum prison sentence of five years, he added.