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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 | Rights Group Demands Strong Response to Public Execution in Maragheh

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); May 25, 2023: A man sentenced to death for charges of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) was publicly hanged in Maragheh today. 

State media published graphic videos of the public hanging that shows children in the audience.

Warning of the resumption of public executions, Iran Human Rights demands a serious response from the international community to stop these state crimes.

Director, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said: “Today’s public execution and its publication by state media shows the true horrifying face of a government that’s trying to prolong its reign with cruelty, humiliation and intimidation of society.”

“The international community cannot tolerate such medieval practices in 2023. Electing the representative of such a government as Chair of the UN Human Rights Council’s Social Forum has severely undermined the Council’s credibility,” he added.

According to Rokna, a man was publicly hanged in Maragheh on 25 May. The unnamed man was sentenced to death for charges of efsad-fil-arz (corruption on earth) through “widespread corruption and prostitution.” He was arrested around eight years ago per the report.

2021 was the first year in over a decade during which no public executions were carried out by the Islamic Republic. This followed 2020 when only one execution was recorded, which was the lowest number since 2016, when Iran Human Rights started its systematic monitoring of executions in Iran. 

We have no indication that the decline in the number of public executions were the result of policy change, but rather a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. 

In 2022, public executions returned to the streets of Iran with two people publicly executed. 

At least five other men have been sentenced to public executions, including Afghan nationals Mohammad Ramez Rashidi and Naeim Hashem Ghotali.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, May 25, 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: Maragheh, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran
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