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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.

IRAN. FIVE CONVICTED SEX MURDERERS HANGED

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May 12, 2008: Iran hanged five men convicted of burning a young woman alive after raping her, at a prison in the central city of Qom, the government newspaper Iran reported.

The five men identified only as Morteza, 21, Hadi, 24, Javad, 24, Hossein, 19 and Mehdi, 24, were sent to the gallows after being found guilty of the woman's abduction, rape and murder, the paper said.

The victim, who was identified only as Narges, was a newly wed, it added.

"We, together with eight friends, kidnapped and raped her... and then we burned her with petrol while she was still alive to make it impossible to identify her," the paper quoted the two main defendants in the case as saying in a joint confession.

The five men were also found guilty of raping several boys, convictions for which they were sentenced to be thrown off a cliff.

That punishment is prescribed by Iran's Islamic penal code for men raping members of their own sex but there have been few reports of its use.

Five other men have also been convicted and sentenced to death over the woman's murder but have lodged appeals.

Sources: AFP, 12/05/2008
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