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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.

Texas death row, Werner Herzog and the man who maintained his innocence

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Michael Perry
This is death row in Texas and the condemned man is Michael Perry, who is now about to become famous or, perhaps more likely, infamous in a documentary about capital punishment by prominent film-maker Werner Herzog.

It would be more accurate to say at this point that the man was Michael Perry, and that he'll become well known from beyond the grave.

Eight days after he was filmed, the 28-year-old was executed, despite maintaining his innocence even as they injected him in the death chamber with the requisite lethal chemicals.

Herzog uses the details of Perry's murder case in an intriguing, if meandering, examination of crime and the death penalty. The resulting documentary, Into the Abyss, opens in the US later this month.

Audiences will become familiar with Perry's toothy grin and Texas drawl, and also how Herzog wipes the smile off Perry's face within moments of meeting him when it becomes clear to the inmate that while the German film-maker is against the death penalty, he has not come to fight Perry's individual fight.

Into the Abyss is more of an illustrated statement that no one should be executed no matter what they might have done.


Source: The Guardian, November 4, 2011

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