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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.

Saudi beheads 80th person this year

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Public beheading in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday [May 12, 2015] carried out its 80th beheading of the year, edging closer to the 87 executions it carried out during all of 2014, according to AFP tallies.

The interior ministry said a Saudi citizen, Rabie al-Sai'ari, had been convicted of trying to smuggle hashish into the kingdom.

He was executed in Najran, a district on the border with Yemen, a ministry statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The ministry has cited deterrence as a reason for its use of the death penalty despite criticism from human rights watchdogs.

Amnesty International ranked Saudi Arabia among the world's top three executioners of 2014.

On a visit to Riyadh this month, French President Francois Hollande said that capital punishment "should be banned", and his country is campaigning around the world for its abolition.

Drug trafficking, rape, murder, apostasy, homosexuality and armed robbery are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic sharia law.

Source: Agence France-Presse, May 12, 2015

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