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Indonesia | 14 years on death row: Timeline of Mary Jane Veloso’s ordeal and fight for justice

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MANILA, Philippines — The case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has spanned over a decade and remains one of the most high-profile legal battles involving an overseas Filipino worker. Veloso was arrested on April 25, 2010, at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October – just six months after her arrest. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the penalty in May 2011.

IRAN. JUDICIAL CHIEF MUST NOW APPROVE PUBLIC EXECUTIONS

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January 30, 2008: Iran announced that the powerful head of its judiciary must in future approve any executions to be carried out in public and ban all pictures of the events.

The new decree was issued by judicial chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi after a year which saw the number of executions soaring to almost 300 under a government campaign to improve security in society.

"Public executions will be carried out only with his approval and based on social necessities," judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said in a statement.

"Publishing photos or images regarding the executions in the media is prohibited based on this decree," he added. The ruling could reduce the number of public executions in Iran, although their number is not known.

Previously, it was the presiding judge in the case who decided whether the convicted criminal would be subject to public execution, while the Iranian supreme court gives the final word on a sentence of capital punishment.

Source : Agence France Presse, 31/01/2008
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