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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: two police officers beheaded

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So far for 2009, there have been 11 beheadings in the Oil Kingdom. The record was set in 2007 with 153 such executions.

Corporal Shaalan Bin Nasser al-Qahtani and Lance Coporal Fah bin Hassan al-Sebeyi, convicted of rape in Saudi Arabia, were beheaded by the sword on February 21, 2008. This brings the number of beheadings in the oil kingdom to 11 announced for 2009 as of February 21. Rape, like apostasy, adultery, armed robbery, and drug trafficking, carries the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, where executions are held in public.

The 2 police officers stopped a man and a woman late at night at a checkpoint. After beating the men and locking him in a police car, the pair then raped the man's niece. The incident was reported shortly afterward and the officers were arrested.

The year 2007 holds the gruesome record of 153 executed in the land where Islam was founded, which applies a strict observance of shariah Islamic law. In 2006, 37 persons were executed while the previous record was reached in 2000 with 113 executions. In January 2009, 2 men were beheaded for raping another man.

Source: Energy Publisher, Feb. 24, 2009
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