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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 | Unidentified Woman Executed with Protesters in January

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According to newly obtained information, an unidentified woman was executed for murder charges along with protesters Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini in Karaj Penitentiary on January 7.

According to new information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a woman was executed in Karaj Penitentiary on January 7. 

The woman who has not been identified at the time of writing was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

On that day, protesters Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini were executed for charges of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth). 

Despite more than three months passing, her execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “The night of Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini’s execution in Karaj Prison, a woman who was convicted of murder was also executed after being transferred from Kachouii Prison.”

Mohammad Mehdi Karami and Seyed Mohammad Hosseini were two protesters arrested at the 40th day memorial for Hadis Najafi, a protester killed in Karaj. 

Their torture-tainted forced confessions were aired prior to any legal proceedings. They were tried along with 14 others over three days without due process or fair trials.

Iran is the biggest executioner of women. In 2022, at least 16 women were executed. 

The unidentified woman executed in January is the third woman to be executed in 2023.

Iran is the world’s top executioner of women with at least 16 executed in Iran in 2022. According to Amnesty International, 24 women were executed around the world in 2022. As aforementioned, there was a complete drop in the execution of women on drug-related charges after the 2017 Amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Laws until 2021, when 5 women were executed on the charges, consistent with the rise in overall drug-related executions. At least three were executed in 2023.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, April 20, 2023

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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: Iran
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