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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.

Amnesty: Hamas guilty of war crimes against Palestinians during Gaza war

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A Hamas militant grabs a Palestinian suspected of collaborating with Israel, before being executed in Gaza City August 22, 2014.
A Hamas militant grabs a Palestinian suspected of collaborating,
 with Israel, before being executed in Gaza City August 22, 2014.
Hamas forces carried out a brutal campaign of abductions, torture, and unlawful killings against Palestinians accused of “collaborating” with Israel and others during Operation Protective Edge last year, according to a report published on Wednesday by Amnesty International.

The report reveals that Hamas carried out at least 23 extrajudicial executions during the war. Some of the executions were documented at the time by Palestinian journalists and photographers, prompting Hamas to halt the public killings.

Entitled “Strangling Necks: Abduction, torture and summary killings of Palestinians by Hamas forces during the 2014 Gaza/Israel conflict,” the Amnesty International report accuses Hamas of killing members and supporters of Fatah.

“It is absolutely appalling that, while Israeli forces were inflicting massive death and destruction upon the people in Gaza, Hamas forces took the opportunity to ruthlessly settle scores, carrying out a series of unlawful killings and other grave abuses,” said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.

“In the chaos of the conflict, the de facto Hamas administration granted its security forces free rein to carry out horrific abuses, including against people in custody. These spine-chilling actions, some of which amount to war crimes, were designed to extract revenge and spread fear across the Gaza Strip.”

The report said that many of the unlawful killings were publicly billed as attacks against people assisting Israel during the war, as part of an operation codenamed “Strangling Necks” to target “collaborators.”

According to the report, at least 16 of those executed had been in Hamas custody since before the war erupted. “Many had been awaiting the outcome of their trials when they were taken away from prison and summarily executed,” it added.

The report said that among those executed were also former members of the Palestinian Authority security forces.


Source: The Jerusalem Post, May 27, 2015

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