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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.

Saudi national executed for killing policeman

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Public beheading in Saudi Arabia (file photo)
Public beheading in Saudi Arabia (file photo)
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed one of its citizens in the southern city of Abha after he was convicted of killing a policeman, the interior ministry said.

Ali Assiri shot and killed the policeman while being arrested, the ministry said in a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

The ultra-conservative kingdom has carried out 134 executions, including of many foreigners, so far this year, according to an AFP count. This far exceeds a toll of 87 for the whole of 2014.

Amnesty International says Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s most prolific executioners, alongside China, Iran, Iraq and the United States.

Under the kingdom’s strict Islamic legal code, murder, drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape, homosexuality and apostasy are all punishable by death.

The interior ministry says the death penalty is an important deterrent.

The vast majority of executions are carried out by beheading, some in public, but a few are carried out by firing squad.

Source: Agence France-Presse, October 13, 2015

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