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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.

Execution of Filipina on Indonesia Death Row Deferred

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The execution of a Filipina involved in drug smuggling in Indonesia has been deferred, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced last week. 

DFA spokesperson Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said that death sentence was deferred pending a judicial review.

The 30-year-old Filipina — who has been identified as Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso — has spent the shortest time on death row. 

The Sleman District Court sentenced her to death in October 2010 for bringing 2.6kg of heroin into Jogjakarta from Malaysia in April 2010, according to a report.

The application to review the woman's death sentence was filed at a district court near Yogyakarta, as earlier stated by Agence France-Presse

Jose was to be executed by firing squad together with four Indonesians and six foreigners, including Australian citizens Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, ringleaders of the infamous 'Bali Nine' gang.

The 'Bali Nine' were attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of Bali in 2005. Chan and Sukumaran were condemned with the death penalty in 2006.

Australia has vowed to exhaust all options to save both men.

Source: Coconuts Manila, Agence France-Presse, Feb. 16, 2015

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Location: Indonesia
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