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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.

Afghan Juvenile Executed in Iran for Drug-Related Charges

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A 15 year old Afghan juvenile offender has been executed in the prison of Isfahan. Reports indicate that he was convicted of drug-related charges and didn’t have access to lawyer. Iranian authorities claim that juveniles are not executed in Iran. This is the seventh juvenile offender being executed in Iran in 2014. What separates this case from the other juvenile executions is that this is the first known case in several years where a juvenile is executed on drug charges. Iran Human Rights urges the United Nations to investigate this case and react towards the juvenile executions in Iran.

Iran Human Rights, May 6, 2014: According to reports by sources in Afghanistan a juvenile offender has recently been executed in Iran. The Dari section of Radio Liberty (Radio Azadi), reported that a 15 year old Afghan boy identified as Jannat Mir was among the six Afghan citizens who were executed in the Dastgerd prison of Isfahan in April. Iran Human Rights (IHR) recently reported about the execution of six Afghan citizens on April 18. 

According to Radio Azadi, Jannat Mir and the five others executed in Isfahan were all convicted of drug-related charges. In an interview with Radio Azadi, Jannat Mir’s brother “Nazok Mir” said that “Jannat Mir was a 9th grade school boy who left Afghanistan to Iran two years ago. He was arrested by the Iranian authorities and sentenced to death for drug-trafficking. He didn’t have access to lawyer and the Iranian authorities didn’t allow the family to take the body back to Afghanistan. So they had to bury Jannat Mir in Isfahan”. It is not clear whether Jannat Mir was 15 at the time of his arrest or the execution.

IHR urges the UN to investigate this case and if confirmed take appropriate measures against the Iranian authorities. Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: ” Execution of juvenile offenders for drug-related charges is not only a serious violation of the international law, but it also violates the Iranian law. We urge the UN to take this particular case and the other reports on the execution of juveniles in Iran seriously and take appropriate measures”.

At least 7 juvenile executions have been reported in 2014 in Iran. Recently the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty called on Iranian authorities to stop juvenile executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, May 6, 2014
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