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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

Vietnam: 11 sentenced to death for heroin trafficking

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November 29, 2007: a Vietnamese court sentenced 11 people to death in a major drug trafficking case, state media reported.

The defendants, all Vietnamese, were convicted of trafficking 440 kilograms of heroin in Vietnam and China, Vietnam News Agency said.

At the end of a nine day trial, the Hanoi People's Court also sentenced seven defendants to life in prison and three others to 20-year jail terms, the report said. The ring was uncovered in December 2004 when Chinese police arrested alleged ring leader Nguyen Thi Nga in Guangxi province and seized 8.5 kilograms of heroin, it said.

Based on her confession, police arrested her sister, Nguyen Thi Thom, and 19 others between March and December last year, the report said. Nga was accused of running the ring's China operations, while Thom ran the Vietnamese operations, it said.
Court officials were not immediately available for comment.

Sources: Associated Press
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