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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

13 Chinese sentenced to death for drugs offences as thousands look on in public trial

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"13 people were sentenced to death for producing and selling drugs."
Eight executed immediately after open hearing in a stadium in notorious drug producing area of Guangdong province

Two courts in southern China’s Guangdong province sentenced 13 people to death for producing and selling drugs at a public trial in a stadium in the city of Shanwei watched by some 10,000 people, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The Shanwei Intermediate People’s Court and the Lufeng People’s Court handed out sentences on Saturday for 18 people, the report said, without giving the names of the accused or details of the charges.

Five were given suspended sentences. Of the 13 sentenced to death, eight were executed immediately after the trial.

The city of Lufeng, which is administered by Shanwei, is notorious for making and trafficking drugs. 

In 2014 more than 3,000 paramilitary personnel, police and border guards from Guangdong raided a village near Lufeng and seized three tonnes of crystal meth. 

Nearly 200 people from the village, which has a population of 14,000, were detained at the time.

The Lufeng court heard 234 cases involving drugs last year and sentenced 107 people to prison terms of at least five years.

A similar public trial was held in 2015 in Lufeng, with five people sentenced to death and executed immediately and another eight given suspended death penalties. 

A further 25 people were sentenced to at least 10 years in jail each.

Source: South China Morning Post, Zhuang Pinghui, June 27, 2017

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Location: Guangdong, China
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