Tehran, June 29 (IANS/AKI) Twenty-six alleged drug traffickers have been executed in Iran, according to a human rights website.

 
 The Herana website said the hangings were carried out last week at the Vakilabad prison in Mashad city without alerting the prisoners' families or lawyers.
 
 Human rights organisations have accused the prison of executing around 100 drug traffickers in secret over the past two years, many without having been even tried.
 
 The Iranian parliament recently passed a bill creating stiffer penalties for drug trafficking. The crime has been a capital offence since the Iranian Islamic revolution of 1979.
 
 The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) and other human rights groups have spoken out against Iran for its use of capital punishment.
 
 Iran has the second highest execution rate in the world, after China, rights groups have said.