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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.

Myanmar: Death sought for child rapists

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Madaya Township locals stage a protest against rapists.
More than a thousand residents of Madaya township in Mandalay joined a protest march on February 17 demanding the death penalty for child rape.

The protest followed the rape and murder of a 2-1/2-year-old child last week in Madaya in which a man has been charged.

The protesters, numbering some 1500, marched from Dingar Creek at the town entrance to Mogoke road and onto a public forum shouting slogans, demanding a mandatory death penalty for child rapists. At the same time they sought to bring attention to the rising incidence of rape in the country.  

“We are calling for more stringent penalties for criminals who rape children to prevent such cases from recurring. Our main objective is to eradicate child rape and punish offenders with the death penalty,” one protest leader, Daw Myint Myint Zaw, said.

The protesters signed a petition that they would submit to parliament.

“We as parents are shocked and frightened every time we hear such news, even if the victim is somebody else’s child. Children cannot protect themselves,’’ she said.

“The incidence of child rape is increasing across the nation. Starting with our town, we are going to collect signatures from parents elsewhere and submit it to the Pyithu Hluttaw.

‘‘We will do everything within our means to make sure Phyo Htet Aung is sentenced to death,” said Ko Than Lwin, another protester.

Phyo Htet Aung is charged with the rape and murder of the child in Madaya township on February 13.

“My daughter was killed brutally. I want justice. I don’t want other parents to suffer like us,” said U Hlaing Zin Myint, father of the victim.

Source: Myanmar Times, Kyaw Ko Ko, February 19, 2018


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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: Myanmar (Burma)
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