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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.

Erdoğan regrets abolishing death penalty, vows to sign off if parliament approves

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday said he is ready to sign off on restoring the death penalty in the country, should the country’s parliament pass it, independent news site Diken reported.

“We made a mistake, we abolished the death penalty,” Erdoğan said during a campaign rally for his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the northern province of Zonguldak ahead of the March 31 local elections.

“I have always said it and I will say it again. If our parliament decides on this matter, I will approve it,” the Turkish president added. 

Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2004,one year after Erdoğan came into power as prime minister, though no executions have taken place since 1984.

The Turkish president has repeatedly said that he would approve, “without hesitation” the death penalty, if parliament voted to restore it — a move that would effectively end the country’s decades-long bid to join the EU.

Erdoğan on Tuesday also urged New Zealand to restore the death penalty for the gunman who killed 50 people at two mosques on Friday, warning that Turkey would make the attacker pay for his action if New Zealand failed to do so. 

Source: ahvalnews.com, Staff, March 19, 2019


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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
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