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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.

Florida: Gov. Scott stands strong on death penalty

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Florida Governor Rick Scott
Scott has presided over 18 executions, including 13 in the last two years, the most executions carried out by any Florida governor in a single term since the death penalty was reinstated in the 1970s.

With another execution scheduled in 10 days, Scott has already exceeded the 15 executions carried out in Gov. Bob Graham's second term. Only Jeb Bush, who oversaw 21 executions in two terms over eight years, remains ahead of Scott.

Yet Scott, a lawyer and former health care executive, said the use of the death penalty was far from his focus when he ran and beat Alex Sink in closely fought race in 2010.

Shortly before the June 18 execution of John Henry, a Pasco County man who stabbed his wife and stepson to death in 1985, Scott described the death penalty as “a solemn duty of the governor.”

“It's not something I thought about when I was going to run,” Scott said. “But I uphold the laws of the land. When I think about the executions I think about the families, the stories of what happened to these individuals. I think about them.”


Source: Herald-Tribune, Lloyd Dunkelberger, June 29, 2014
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