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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.

The uncomfortable truth about executions

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After a leaked report revealed China executes 3 times more people than the world combined, here are the facts about capital punishment across the globe

This week the Dui Hua Foundation exposed the shocking number of executions that took place in China in 2013.

According to the US-based pressure group, China executed 2,400 people.

The number, which is troubling in itself, is even more disturbing when put into a global context - as it reveals last year China executed 3 times more people than the world combined.

The total number of executions for the rest of the world was 778 people in 2013, according to Amnesty International.

The next highest execution rate was Iran is the next biggest executor with at least 369, followed byIraq with at least with at least 169.

Other uncomfortable facts have come out of the latest round of statistics - for example, Belarus remains the only European country to still have the death penalty.

Meanwhile in Japan, India, Malaysia and South Sudan, prisoners were not told they were to be executed - and neither were their lawyers or even their family.

Amnesty International say that despite these shocking numbers the global trend remains towards abolition - with 173 of 193 members of the United Nations execution-free.

Source: The Telegraph, October 24, 2014
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