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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.

MEPs Call To Save Young Iranian Female Prisoner From Execution

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Following information about the transfer of Ms Reyhaneh Jabbari to Gohardasht notorious prison for her execution, the Friends of a Free Iran in European Parliament issued an urgent press release calling for urgent action to save her life.

The release says: "According to reports received from inside Iran today, Ms Reyhaneh Jabbari, 26, a survivor of a sexual assault, is to be hanged imminently.

Reyhaneh Jabbari was sentenced to death in 2009 after a deeply flawed investigation and trial for having stabbed in self-defence an agent of Iran's notorious ministry of Intelligence, when he tried to sexually assault her."

FoFI's press release indicates that Ms Jabbari has been transferred to be hanged. Her mother said today that Reyhaneh had called her from Evin prison in the last minute before being transferred to Rajayi-Shahr prison for execution. The prison authorities said she would have to go and "collect the body" tomorrow.

"Amnesty International and many other international organisations have once again raised alarms today and called on Iran to halt this execution.

The Friends of a Free Iran in the European Parliament (FOFI) is outraged over the report of Reyhaneh Jabbari's imminent execution and the massive use of death penalty against the Iranian people under the so called moderate Rouhani.

"Last week, while the world powers were busy with nuclear talks with Iran in New York, Mohsen Amir-Aslani, 37, a prisoner of conscience was hanged in Iran for having made a different interpretation of the Quran.

Speaking from Brussels, Gerard Deprez, the chair of FOFI said "Hassan Rouhani's government has been hanging more than 1000 people, many of the in public squares in Iranian cities. This is the worst record by any Iranian president for the past 25 years."

The European Parliament informal group, referring to the talks between P5+1 and the Iranian regime warned, "If human rights are not improving in Iran, continued talks will only be seen as a green light for further aggression by the regime against its people as well as spreading its terror to other countries of the region."

"It is time the west imposes sanctions on Iran's human rights violations with no further delay."

Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) is an informal group in the European Parliament which was formed in 2003 and enjoys the active support of many MEPs from various political groups.

Source: NCR-Iran, Sept. 30, 2014
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