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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.

Chinese engineer arrested in Pakistan over ‘blasphemy’

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Islamabad, Apr 17 (EFE).- A Chinese man who works at a hydropower project was arrested over blasphemy allegations from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, police said.

Police have filed a case against the suspect identified as Tian under a law that carries death penalty or life imprisonment for insulting Prophet Muhammed – Islam’s most revered figure.

Tian also faces terrorism charges and if could be sentenced to life if proven guilty.

“Tian was arrested around 2 am on Monday after protests all over Kohistan district (in the province) continued on Sunday,” police officer Naseer Uddin told EFE.

The police officer said a group of youth had gathered to attack him for making alleged blasphemous remarks during a heated argument wit his colleagues at the workplace over the weekend.

“He said some blasphemous remarks about Allah and Prophet Muhammed during a heated argument with his co-workers on Saturday,” Naseen Uddin told EFE.

According to him, Tian, 48, is an employee of China Gezhouba Group Company.

Blasphemy is an offence in Pakistan carrying the death penalty but no one has ever been executed for insulting the Islam.

The harsh Pakistani anti-blasphemy law was enforced in the British colonial era.

The then-dictator, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, reformed the law in the 1980s.

Since then, there have been nearly a thousand accusations for blasphemy.

In December 2021, a violent Pakistani mob lynched a Sri Lankan-origin man and set his body on fire in the northeastern city of Sialkot, for alleged blasphemy.

The incident was severely criticized by international organizations and the Sri Lankan government.

Source: EFE, Staff, April 17, 2023


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
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