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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.

Denmark Stops Aid to Iran’s Fight Against Drug Trafficking

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Iran Human Rights, April 9: Danish government has decided to cut its aids to Iran’s anti drug program says a Danish newspaper today.

Denmark is one of the several Western countries aiding to Iran’s war on drugs. The aid has been given through the UN agency "United Nation’s office for drugs and crimes" (UNODC).

Many of those [sentenced] in Iran for drug related charges are executed. According to Iran Human Rights’ recent annual report on the death penalty in 2012, at least 76% of all executions (438 out of 580 executions) in 2012 were based on drug related charges.

In the past few years several human rights organizations have urged the UNODC and the donor countries to stop contributing indirectly to the increasing number of the death penalties in Iran.

According to Reuters, quoting the Danish newspaper Politiken "Denmark has the past two years given five million dollars annually to a counter-narcotics program in Iran."

“During the same period, the Iranian authorities executed hundreds of suspected drug offenders, and on this basis, Development Minister Christian Friis Bach (R) has now decided to immediately discontinue support for the program”, reported Politiken Tuesday.

“It is a signal to Iran that the use of the death penalty is unacceptable and something that we in no way can vouch for”, he told Politiken.

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR welcomed Denmark’s decision and said: "We still haven’t heard the details through official channels, but given that the news is true, we are very glad and hope all the countries giving aid to the UNODC cooperation with Iran will follow Denmark’s example. This aid should go to programs promoting the human rights and not to programs contributing to the death penalty".

Source: Iran Human Rights, April 9, 2013


Denmark ends Iranian drug crime support

The development minister, Christian Friis Bach (Radikale), has decided to cease providing financial support to a United Nations anti-drug programme due to revelations that Iran has been using the programme to execute hundreds of criminals every year.

“It’s a signal to Iran that the implementation of the death penalty is unacceptable and not something we can be involved with,” Bach told Politiken newspaper.

Via the Foreign Ministry's aid organisation, Danida, Denmark has contributed five million kroner annually over the past two years to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which among other tasks battles the drug trade in Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. But with the news that the Iranian government has been executing hundreds of criminals as a result of the anti-drug programme, human rights organisations such as Amnesty International accused Denmark and other donor countries for indirectly sponsoring the death penalty in Iran.

Denmark had been expected to contribute a further seven million kroner over the next two years but an evaluation of the project last Friday prompted Bach to pull the plug on Danish assistance.

Click here to read the full article

Source: The Copenhagen Post, April 2013
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