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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.

Japan | Prosecutors want death penalty for man accused of murdering 19 care home residents

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Satoshi Uematsu
TOKYO: Japanese prosecutors on Monday (Feb 17) called for a 30-year-old man to be given the death penalty for allegedly murdering 19 disabled care home residents in one of the country's worst mass killings.

Satoshi Uematsu, a former care home employee, did not dispute his involvement in the 2016 stabbing rampage during his first court appearance last month in Yokohama.

RELATED | 'I had to do it for society': Conversations with accused Japan care home mass murderer

But his lawyers entered a plea of not guilty, saying their client was suffering a "mental disorder" linked to his use of marijuana.

Prosecutors have argued Uematsu was capable of taking responsibility for the attack, adding the rampage was "inhumane" and left "no room for leniency."

Hearings are to be concluded later this week, with the verdict expected on Mar 16, according to the local court.

Uematsu had reportedly said he wanted to eradicate all people with disabilities in the horrifying attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre in the town of Sagamihara, south west of Tokyo, as he claimed people with disabilities "only create unhappiness".

Besides the 19 people killed, 26 people were injured.

RELATED | Death wish: Portrait of an arsonist

Uematsu's beliefs shocked Japan, with experts and activists raising questions about whether others might hold similar views.

Japan has been making efforts to increase accessibility – particularly in Tokyo ahead of this year's Paralympic Games – and activists hailed last year's election of two lawmakers with disabilities.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Staff, February 17, 2020


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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: Japan
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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.
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9 prisoners of drug charges executed in the central prisons of Kerman, Chabahar and GhezelHesar According to the Iranian Human Rights Society website, on Sunday, April 21st, 2024, 9 prisoners including, Baloch and Kurdish drug suspects were executed in the central prisons of Kerman, Chah bahar, and GhezelHesar.  
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