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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.

UK Govt to continue with Saudi prison support as juvenile crucifixion looms

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The British Government has announced that it plans to continue a bid to provide support to the Saudi Arabian prisons system, despite the Kingdom’s plan to carry out the ‘crucifixion’ of a prisoner convicted as a child.

UK Ministers had to correct the Parliamentary record today after wrongly claiming that they were unable to drop the bid due to the risk of “financial penalties.” The only reason now given for continuing with the bid is that “withdrawing at this late stage would be detrimental to [Her Majesty’s Government’s] wider interests.”

It emerged this week that Saudi Arabia had dismissed the final appeal of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was arrested aged 17 and ultimately sentenced to “death by crucifixion” for alleged offences relating to anti-Government protests in 2012. With legal avenues now exhausted, Ali could be executed at any moment, with no prior notification of his family.

Commenting, Maya Foa, Director of the death penalty team at legal charity Reprieve said: “It is hard to see what British interests are strong enough to trump the principle that we should not be supporting the ‘crucifixion’ of juveniles. The UK should have nothing to do with a so-called justice system responsible for atrocities such as this. It is extremely worrying to see the British Government abdicating its basic human rights values in the interests of cosying up to the Saudis. British complicity in gross abuses such as these is unacceptable and has to stop.”

Source: Reprieve, September 16, 2015

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