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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.

Bali 9: ‘Bad look’ to kill pair during talks - Indonesia Attorney-General

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Indonesia's Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo
Indonesia's Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo
Indonesia’s Attorney-General says the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran may be delayed because it “doesn’t look good (to) shoot them” during a major inter­national conference.

There is now no legal impediment to the execution of the Bali Nine pair, and appeal applications from two others among the 10 condemned drug convicts marked for death are likely to be settled within the next week.

However, from April 19 to 24 President Joko Widodo will host the 60th anniversary Asia-Africa Conference, to which more than 100 heads of state and national leaders have been invited.

“It doesn’t look good if, when we have guests, we shoot them, although this is legal,” Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said yesterday.

Asked if the conference meant delaying the executions on ­Nusakambangan penal island until the end of the month or ­beyond, Mr Prasetyo replied: “I don’t say that, but it’s one of our considerations.”

He insisted, however, that a Constitutional Court case mounted by Chan and Sukumaran’s lawyers would not be ­another cause of delay. The Australians’ chief Indonesian lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, is expected today to lodge a suit asking the Constitutional Court to define the President’s obligations in dealing with applications for clemency.

On Monday Chan and Sukumaran lost their last chance to argue for their lives when the Jakarta Administrative Court refused to hear their challenges to Mr Joko’s refusal to grant them clemency, saying that was outside the court’s jurisdiction.

Mr Joko has issued a blanket refusal to grant clemency to drug convicts on death row.

“The Bali Nine duo’s decision to go to the Administrative Court was irregular but we had to ­respect it and (on Monday) it was decided,” Mr Prasetyo said.

Asked if there would be a ­further delay while the Const­itutional Court examined the clemency issue, he said: “Oh, no, no.”


Source: The Australian, April 8, 2015 (local time)

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