A total of 40 persons have been beheaded this year, half of them for drug trafficking. One of those beheaded died for illegally brewing and distributing alcohol, another for smuggling hashish. Drug trafficking, rape, murder, armed robbery, adultery, and apostasy are capital crimes. Drug trafficking became a capital offense in 1987.
Beheadings are public, and the bodies of victims are sometimes displayed for days.
Trials are closed, usually brief, and held before panels composed of a prison director, interrogator, and Islamically trained judge, sometimes in the middle of the night. Defendants are not permitted to have lawyers present at the proceedings, and are often unaware that they may request lawyers for pre-trial consultations. No counsel is provided to those unable to afford one.