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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 | Baluch Prisoner Executed in Zahedan

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Iran Human Rights (IHR); January 20, 2021: A prisoner who had been sentenced to death on “drug-related” charges, has been executed at Zahedan Central Prison.

According to Iran Human Rights, a male prisoner was executed in the early hours of Tuesday, January 19, in Zahedan Central Prison. 

The identity of the prisoner has been established as Anwar Ali-Zehi, who was sentenced to death or drug-related charges.

According to an informed source of the Baluch Activists Campaign, “Anwar was forced to transfer drugs due to being unable to find a suitable job and poor living conditions and did not even have a criminal record prior to his arrest,”

Anwar was arrested two years ago and had been kept behind bars during that time.

At the time of writing, the execution of Anwar Ali-Zehi has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

There has been a dramatic drop in drug-related executions since a new article was added to the Anti-Drugs Law around three years ago. 

The amendment, which was passed into law in 2017, specifically restricts the death penalty and provides a degree of reduction in some drug-related cases.

According to Iran Human Rights’ annual report on the death penalty in Iran, at least 30 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2019.

Source: iranhr.net, Staff, January 20, 2021


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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: Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran
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