Authorities say at least 32 people were murdered in a fire that ripped through a drug rehabilitation center in northern Iran.
The fire broke out early Friday in Langarud, a city in Gilan, a Caspian Sea province north of Tehran.
According to Esmail Sadeghi, the province chief justice, 16 others were taken to the hospital.
Iran has a death penalty for habitual drug smugglers and dealers, but it also has a number of rehabilitation programs for addicts.
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According to local accounts, the cause of the fire was not immediately evident, but Mr Sadeghi stated that an inquiry “was underway.” The center may house up to 40 persons.
The fire, which lit up the sky and sent large plumes of smoke into the air, was captured on video by Isna, a semi-official Iranian news agency.
Other photos revealed the extensively damaged scene after the fire had been extinguished.
Iran is thought to have the greatest per capita number of opioid addicts in the world, and it is located on a major smuggling route for opium grown in Afghanistan.
According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime’s global drug report this year, Iran accounted for 47% of global heroin and morphine seizures originating in Afghanistan in 2020.
According to a June report by Amnesty International, Iran hanged at least 173 people convicted of drug-related offenses this year after “systematically unfair trials.”
The figure was nearly three times higher than this time last year, according to the rights group.
