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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.

Saudi Arabia: new execution

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A Saudi man sentenced to death for murder was beheaded today in the western port city of Yanbu, the interior ministry announced, the 12th execution in the kingdom this year.

Mohammed al-Hubaishi al-Juhani was executed for his role in the robbery and murder of Fuad bin Qarnabish.

Together with 2 accomplices, Juhani lured Qarnabish into an empty house, tied him up and robbed him, the ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi state news agency SPA.

Working alone Juhani then took the victim and threw him in the Red Sea to drown.

Juhani's accomplices were given heavy jail terms and lashes for their role in the crime.

The execution brought to 12 the number of beheadings announced by the Saudi authorities since the beginning of the year.

A total of 102 people were executed last year while in 2007 a record 153 people were executed in the country, which applies a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

That figure compared with 37 in 2006 and the previous record of 113 in 2000.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking can all carry the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, where executions are carried out in public.

Source: Melbourne Herald Sun, Feb. 24, 2009
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