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Communist Vietnam's secret death penalty conveyor belt: How country trails only China and Iran for 'astonishing' number of executions

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Prisoners are dragged from their cells at 4am without warning to be given a lethal injection Vietnam's use of the death penalty has been thrust into the spotlight after a real estate tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to be executed in one of the biggest corruption cases in the country's history. Truong My Lan, a businesswoman who chaired a sprawling company that developed luxury apartments, hotels, offices and shopping malls, was arrested in 2022.

Iraq executes 12 amid international disquiet

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BAGHDAD - Iraqi authorities announced the execution of a dozen terrorism convicts yesterday, defying widespread international condemnation of the country’s use of the death penalty.

The latest executions, carried out on Sunday, bring the number of people put to death by Iraq this year to about 144, compared to 129 last year.

The prisoners executed on Sunday were all Iraqi men, a justice ministry official said, but gave no further details.

Executions in Iraq, usually hangings, have risen this year despite persistent international criticism urging an Iraqi moratorium on capital punishment.

In a statement issued on World Day Against the Death Penalty last month, the justice ministry said it had executed 42 convicts in one week.

The executions have drawn condemnation from the European Union, the United Nations and rights groups.

Navi Pillay, the UN human rights chief, said this year that Iraq’s criminal justice system was not functioning adequately.

She highlighted “numerous convictions based on confessions obtained under torture and ill-treatment, a weak judiciary and trial proceedings that fall short of international standards”.

But the Iraqi justice minister, Hassan Al Shammari, insisted the executions went ahead only after an exhaustive legal process. 

Source: Agence France-Presse, November 18, 2013
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