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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.

Iran: Political Prisoner Receives 74 Lashes

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Public flogging in Iran
Iran Human Rights (Aug 5, 2018): Iranian political prisoner, Mohammad Mozaffari, received 74 lashes at Evin prison. 

Iran Human Rights (IHR) condemns the use of physical punishments, such as flogging and considers it as a violation of human rights and dignity. IHR calls on the international community and human rights organizations to do their best in order to make the Islamic Republic stop the implementation of such inhumane punishments.

According to the political prisoner's brother, on the morning of Sunday, August 5, Mohammad Mozaffari received 74 lashes. He was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, 74 lashes, and a fine of 2 million Tomans on the charge of “propaganda against the system” and “insulting the leadership and the clergy” because of his peaceful activities and disclosing information about the condition of political prisoners. He is currently serving the jail term at Tehran’s Evin Prison.

RELATED: Iran: 20 people lashed for eating or drinking during Ramadan fasting hours

Mohammad Mozaffari was first arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) on February 15, 2015, and spent six months at Evin Prison after which he was released on bail. He was sent to Evin Prison again on June 18, after his verdict was issued.

Article 16 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Iran has signed, clearly bans the use of cruel, inhumane, or demeaning punishments or treatments. According to the Iranian penal code, Flogging is measured out as a punishment for many charges including but not limited to fornication, drinking alcohol, drug abuse, disturbing public order and breaking the «hijab» code in the form of Hadd and Tazir.

RELATED: Who Gets Flogged In Iran? 

Hadd refers to a punishment the type, quantity, and quality of which is determined by the Islamic Sharia law. On may 2018, the Deputy Chief of the Iranian Judiciary, Hadi Sadeghi, said that at a press conference that flogging “is more effective than imprisonment”.

Flogging is a very common punishment in Iran but there are no exact statistics about the extent of this punishment. Hojjat al-Eslam Ali Khorshidi, the Chief Justice of Estahban, said, recently under a Friday prayer “We carry out the flogging sentences every day… we are not indifferent, but we can’t announce every action we take every day.” The United Nations had earlier condemned the use of flogging in Iran.

Source: Iran Human Rights, August 6, 2018


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Tehran, Tehran Province, Iran
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