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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 | Man Executed on Drug-related Charges

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Iran Human Rights (IHR); June 7, 2021: Shahin Mirkhani, a prisoner on death row for drug-related charges, has been executed in Shirvan Prison (North Khorasan). 

38 people, including one woman, have so far been executed on drug-related charges in 2021.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a male prisoner was executed in Shirvan Prison on Sunday, June 6. 

His identity has been established as Shahin Mirkhani, who was around 40 years old and had been sentenced to death on drug-related charges.

An informed source told IHR: “Shahin Mirkhani was sentenced to death for carrying 420 kilograms of (stimulant) methamphetamine and was executed in the yard at the back of Shirvan Prison, where the gallows are located on Sunday.”

At the time of writing, Shahin’s execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

It has been almost four years since an Article was added to the Anti-Narcotics Law in 2017 to limit death sentences specifically and provide a general degree of reprieve in some cases. 

However, while the numbers reduced that year, the death penalty is still being used in drug-related cases.

According to Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, at least 25 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2020.

However, at least 38 people have so far been executed on drug-related charges in 2021, the majority of whom have been Baluch minorities.

On May 3, IHR published a report on the death penalty in the first four months of 2021 expressing concern at the significant increase in the number of drug-related executions and continues to warn of the continuation of this trend.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, June 7, 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: Shirvan, North Khorasan Province, Iran
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