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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.

India Cabinet Proposes Death Penalty in Severe Rape Cases

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NEW DELHI--India's cabinet has proposed death as the maximum punishment for severe rape cases, a senior minister said Saturday in the wake of public demands for stern action after the brutal gang rape of a student in New Delhi in December.

The death penalty proposal forms part of an ordinance cleared by the federal cabinet Friday evening. The ordinance, a legal order made by the government when Parliament isn't in session, looks to strengthen criminal laws in cases of sexual assault, the minister told The Wall Street Journal.

The ordinance incorporates most of the suggestions made by a three-member panel led by former Chief Justice of India J.S. Verma, but not its proposal to remove an exception for marital rape.

"The cabinet has recommended in the ordinance death penalty in [the] rarest of rare cases of rape, wherein the victim dies or goes in a state of coma," the minister said. Under current law, rapists can face sentences ranging from seven years to life imprisonment.

President Pranab Mukherjee will need to approve the ordinance before it becomes law. That is expected to happen this weekend, a government official said late Friday. The law will then need to be ratified by Parliament within six weeks of the start of the next session, which opens on Feb. 21.


Source: The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 2, 2013
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