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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.

Indonesia | Man escapes death sentence in ruling by Federal Court

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A man who was sentenced to death escaped the gallows today when the Federal Court here sentenced him to 17 years in jail and 10 strokes of the rotan on a charge of possessing 855.8 grams of methamphetamine.

The decision was made by a three-judge panel comprising the Chief Justice of Malaya Tan Sri Azahar Mohamed Along, Chief Justice of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, and Datuk Mary Lim Thiam Sian against 33-year-old Lai Thai Leong.

The court while giving its brief reason stipulated that the death sentence imposed by the previous court for drug trafficking offence should be replaced with drug possession offence under Section 12 of the Dangerous Drugs Act (DDA) 1952 read together with Section 39A(2) of the same Act.

The court cannot assume that Lai has control and ownership over the box containing the drugs in question, it ruled.

Previously, Lai was charged with committing the offence on May 12, 2016 at a car park near Jalan Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce here at 11am.

According to the facts of the case, he had picked up a parcel from a courier office when he was apprehended by police.

On April 19, 2018, the High Court here imposed a mandatory death sentence on Lai after he was convicted under Section 39B(1)(a) of the DDA 1952.

This decision was upheld again during the appellant’s appeal at the Court of Appeal on Oct 22, 2019.

Lai subsequently appealed to the Federal Court through lawyers Roger Chin, Osman Ibrahim, Ernie Natasha Azman and Nur Atiqah Kulah.

The prosecution was conducted by deputy public prosecutor Nahra Dollah.

Source: The Borneo Post, Staff, May 19, 2022






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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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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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Iran | Probable Child Offender and Child Bride, Husband Executed for Drug Charges

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 15 2024: Marjan Hajizadeh and Esmail Hassaniani, a couple sentenced to death for drug-related charges in a joint case, were executed in Zanjan Central Prison.  Marjan is reported to have been 16 at the time of arrest, which IHRNGO is working to confirm. If verified, she will be the first child offender executed for drug charges since 2014. She was also a child bride forced into marriage.
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