On February 16, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Khatami's...

On February 16, Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabai, Khatami's representative on drug issues, said "executing drug smugglers is not a suitable way to fight drugs and our ten-year experience shows that this has not been a solution." Referring to the hanging of a young man that had taken place in the town a few days previously, he said: "This execution is no loss to Mafia gangs which direct the region's drug trade."