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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.

Indonesia Top Court Rejects Bali Death-Row Briton Lindsay Sandiford’s Appeal

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Lindsay Sandiford
Indonesia’s top court on Thursday rejected an appeal by a British grandmother sentenced to death for trafficking drugs into the resort island of Bali, a judge said.

A three-judge panel at the Supreme Court in Jakarta unanimously rejected the appeal of Lindsay Sandiford, said the panel’s chief judge Artidjo Alkostar.

“Her appeal has been rejected,” he said in a text message after the closed hearing.

“The decision is unanimous,” he said, adding there was “no dissenting opinion”.

He said the judges agreed with the decision taken by the Denpasar District Court in Bali, which sentenced her to death, and the island’s high court, which rejected her first appeal.

Sandiford was sentenced to death in January after cocaine with an estimated street value of $2.4 million was found in her suitcase as she arrived on a flight from Bangkok in May last year, a shock verdict after prosecutors recommended 15 years imprisonment.

Police said she was at the center of a drugs-importing ring involving three other Britons. The 57-year-old said she was forced to transport the drugs to protect her children, whose safety was at stake.

Source: Agence France-Presse, August 29, 2013
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