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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: ten hanged in Tehran's Evin prison

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November 26, 2008: Iran hanged nine men and a woman convicted of murder in Tehran's Evin prison, the Fars news agency reported.

The official overseeing the execution was quoted as saying "the woman was convicted of killing her temporary marriage husband by cutting him into pieces."

Vatan Emrouz newspaper, identifying the woman as Fatemeh Pajoh, said she was "suspicious" of her temporary husband, but gave no details.

Some Iranian human rights groups have said she killed her husband for raping her daughter.

In Shiite Islam, men and women are permitted to marry on a temporary basis.

Iran's judiciary insists that retribution in murder is a private right and that is up to the victims' families to determine whether the death sentence should be carried out.

Under Iranian law, a murder victim's family can spare a convict's life by accepting blood money. Some families have also been known to forgive a murderer without demanding compensation.

Many of the convicts are poor, making it hard to to raise the blood money, which is officially set at 55,000 dollars although some families demand more.

Also read on this blog: Petite histoire d'une condamnée à mort (in French)

Source: Afp, 26/11/2008
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