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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.

Egypt frees Irish student after four-year ordeal

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The Egyptian authorities have released an Irish citizen who was arrested at a protest at the age of 17, and who had been facing a death sentence.

Ibrahim Halawa from Dublin, was 17 when he was arrested with hundreds of other people in 2013, as part of a crackdown on protests in Egypt. 

He was held in pre-trial detention for over four years, and reported being regularly tortured.

Ibrahim was tried as an adult alongside 493 other people, despite having been a juvenile at the time of his arrest. 

The mass trial – one of several to have taken place since 2013 – was frequently postponed. 

Hearings of the trial were criticised for failing to meet basic standards. 

Maya Foa, Director of human rights organization Reprieve – which has been assisting Ibrahim – said:

"It is fantastic news, and long overdue, that Ibrahim is finally free. He and his family have been through an unimaginable ordeal, even though Ibrahim's only 'crime' was to attend a protest. He must now be given time and space to recover with his family. Meanwhile, Egypt's allies – including the UK and the US – must strongly urge Sisi to end the brutal repression that continues in the country, including mass trials and hundreds of unlawful death sentences."

Source: Reprieve, October 20, 2017


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
Location: Egypt
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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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