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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.

Saudi Arabia | Appeals court upholds death penalty of ‘Dammam kidnapper’

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An appeals court in the Eastern Province on Monday upheld the verdict issued by a criminal court in Dammam in September 2020, awarding the death penalty to a woman, known in the media as “Dammam kidnapper,” and jail terms for 3 other defendants.

The woman, the main defendant, was convicted of kidnapping newborns from Dammam 3 decades ago. 

The court also sentenced the 2nd defendant to 1 1/2 years in prison and SR20,000 in fine while the 3rd defendant, a Yemeni man, was awarded 25 1/2 years of jail in the case. 

The court also handed 1-year imprisonment and imposed a fine amounting to SR5,000 on the 4th defendant.

The criminal court found the Saudi woman who had kidnapped 2 boys from a hospital in Dammam in the 1990s guilty. She raised the abducted children as her own and reportedly told them they were born out of wedlock. 

Police investigations into the babies’ disappearance failed to yield results until suspicions about the identity of the 2 boys, who are now in their 20s, rose after she tried to apply for their identification cards. 

The mystery of the missing of the 2 babies was unraveled 2 years ago when the woman submitted applications to obtain identification documents for the two men. 

Subsequently, the authorities conducted the required medical and technical examinations, and the results proved no biological relationship between her and them and their lineage to other Saudi families who had previously reported the abduction of their children.


The Public Prosecution spokesman said that their investigation team carried out 247 procedures in the case, and these included 21 investigation sessions with 21 defendants and witnesses, and filed charges against defendants including 4 convicts while the 5th defendant is absconding after escaping to outside the Kingdom. 

The Public Prosecution sought the help of Interpol to bring back the culprit.

Source: Saudi Gazette, Staff, January 26, 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: Saudi Arabia
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