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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. 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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