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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.

Vietnam upholds death sentence

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HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- A court in southern Ho Chi Minh City upheld the death sentence against an Australian man of Vietnamese origin convicted of heroin trafficking, a court official said Thursday.

The death sentence was reaffirmed on Tony Manh, 40, of New South Wales, at the one-day trial at the city's People's Court of Appeals on Wednesday, said the court official, who declined to give his name citing policy.

"There was no new evidence to support the reduction of his death sentence," he said.

Manh was convicted of trafficking 0.948 kilograms (2 pounds) of heroin and sentenced to death in September.

He was arrested in March after security officers at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City found the drugs hidden on his body as he was about to board a plane to Sydney, Australia.

Source : The Associated Press
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