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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.

Trouble on death row

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On New Year’s Day, 2010, convicted murderer Leeland Mark Braley was found hanged dead in his cell on death row at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. His apparent suicide, currently under investigation by the Department of Corrections, marked the third non-execution death on the row since October 2009. Since Braley’s death, new restrictions, meant to enhance security within the prison, have been placed on inmates’ privileges including the revocation of contact visits with family and loved ones for all prisoners.

Advocates for the inmates and their families, however, say the restrictions, especially the elimination of nearly all physical contact with anyone from outside the prison walls, goes beyond the limits of humane punishment or reasonable security measures.

Click here to read this feature in full.

Source: The Sunday Paper, January 31, 2010
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