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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.

China: Man who killed toddler in parking row executed

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Han Lei (photo: AP)
A Chinese man who killed a two-year-old girl after a row with her mother over a parking space was executed on Friday, a court said.

Han Lei was convicted of taking the child from her pram and throwing her to the ground after her mother refused to make way for him to park his car in Beijing in July last year.

He and a friend in the vehicle drove away and the toddler died two days later of her injuries, provoking widespread public outrage.

Han, now 40, was sentenced to death two months after the incident, and appealed against the penalty without success.

China's Supreme Court approved the sentence and he was executed on Friday, the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court said on a verified microblog account.

Han had reportedly told prosecutors last year he felt so guilty and distressed that he wanted to die, according to previous Chinese media reports.

"I caused such a calamity for the child... please make sure that I am sentenced to death," he was quoted as saying. "I don't want to live any more."

Han was sentenced to life in prison in 1996 for stealing a car but was released 2012 after the sentence was commuted, the reports said.

Source: Agence France-Presse, October 31, 2014

Related articles:
- China toddler death: Suspect trial begins, BBC News, Sept. 5, 2013
- Chinese Man Sentenced to Death for Killing Toddler, AP, Sept. 2013
- China: Beijing Baby Killer Appeals for Light Sentence, CRI English, Oct. 8, 2013
- China: Death penalty upheld for Beijing road-rage baby killer, SCMP, Nov. 29, 2013
Location: Beijing, Beijing, China
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