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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.

Saudi beheaded for killing compatriot

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Public beheading in KSA
His execution in Qatif brings to 11 the number of executions this year

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia beheaded one its citizens in the Eastern Province on Wednesday after he was convicted of murdering a compatriot, the interior ministry announced.

Abdullah Al Mabyuq shot dead Mohammad Al Faraj following a dispute, said the statement carried by the official SPA news agency.

His execution in the Qatif district of the Eastern Province brings to 11 the number of executions this year in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Saudi Arabia beheaded 78 people in 2013, according to an AFP count.

Last year, the UN High Commission for Human Rights denounced a “sharp increase in the use of capital punishment” since 2011 in Saudi Arabia.

According to figures from rights group Amnesty International, the number of Saudi executions rose from 27 in 2010, of whom five were foreigners, to 82 in 2011, including 28 foreigners.

In 2012, the number of executions slipped slightly to 79, among them 27 foreigners.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery, homosexuality and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of Sharia.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Feb. 26, 2014
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