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Indonesia | 14 years on death row: Timeline of Mary Jane Veloso’s ordeal and fight for justice

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MANILA, Philippines — The case of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina on death row in Indonesia for drug trafficking, has spanned over a decade and remains one of the most high-profile legal battles involving an overseas Filipino worker. Veloso was arrested on April 25, 2010, at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, after she was found in possession of more than 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was sentenced to death in October – just six months after her arrest. Indonesia’s Supreme Court upheld the penalty in May 2011.

Iran | 2 Executions in Salman, 3 in Arak

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); January 22, 2023: Kamel Doudkanlu and Seyed Farhad Hosseini, sentenced to death for drug-related and murder charges, were executed in Salman Prison, West Azerbaijan province.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, two men were executed in Salman Prison on January 19. Their identities have been established as Kamel Doudkanlu and Seyed Farhad Hosseini.

Informed sources told Iran Human Rights: “Kamel Doudkanlu was arrested on charges of carrying heroine seven years ago and was sentenced to death. He had three children. Farhad Hosseini was arrested and sentenced to death for murder around two years ago.

At the time of writing, neither of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Those charged with the umbrella term of “intentional murder” are sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) regardless of intent or circumstances due to a lack of grading in law. Once a defendant has been convicted, the victim’s family are required to choose between death as retribution, diya (blood money) or forgiveness.

3 Inmates Executed in Arak Prison


On January 24, 2023, Arak Prison officials executed 3 death-row inmates convicted of drug-related crimes.

According to HRANA, the news agency of Human Rights Activists, on January 24, 2023, three death-row prisoners were executed in Arak Prison. HRANA has identified 2 of them as Omid Azni and Behnam (last name unknown).

These prisoners were previously sentenced to death for drug offences.

None of the official sources and media outlets inside the country has reported these executions at the time of writing.

In 2022, the Department of Statistics and Publication of Human Rights Activists in Iran registered 457 reports related to the death penalty. This included 92 death sentences, including the conviction of 6 people to public execution and 565 execution sentences were carried out, 2 of which have been carried out in public. 

Based on the announced identifications of some of the executed individuals, 501 were male and 11 were female. In addition, 5 juvenile offenders were executed in 2022, meaning they were under the age of 18 at the time they committed the crime.

Source: Iran Human Rights, HRANA, Staff, January 22-26, 2023












"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: Iran
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