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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.

11 Prisoners Executed for Drug Offences in Iran

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Iranian authorities hanged 11 prisoners charged with drug offences early Monday morning, according to the Iran Human Rights (IHR) sources in Ghezelhesar prison of Karaj (west of Tehran).

One of those executed was a school teacher identified as Mahmood Barati who was sentenced to death on false charges, according to an IHR source. Barati was arrested 10 years ago and sentenced to death only based on the testimony by an individual who was also charged with drug offences. There were no other evidence against Mr. Barati besides the testimoney. The key witness, who was later executed for drug charges, had withdrawn his testimoney twice. Mahmood Barati didn't have any previous criminal record and at that time worked as teacher in Taybad (eastern Iran).

The family of Mr. Barati didn't get the opprotunity to visit him for the last time.

The other prisoners who were hanged today included "Ali Tafreshi", "Mehdi rahimi" from the Unit 2 of Ghezelhesar prison, "Hossein Rostami" from Fasha prison (south of Tehran), five prisoners from the "Great tehran Central Prison" and one unidentified prisoner.

So far in 2015, Iranian authorities have executed more than 700 prisoners, including more than 400 prisoners charges with drug offences.

Iran Human Rights strongly condemns today's executions. IHR's spokesperson Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: "Mahmood Barati is only one of many innocent prisoners who are executed for drug charges by the Iranian authorities. The international community must put pressure on Iran to stop the arbitrary executions under the pretext of fighting the drug trafficking".

Source: Iran Human Rights, Sept. 8, 2015

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
Location: Karaj, Alborz, Iran
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