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.
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Drug mule Rush gives first TV interview
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
Published
Tuesday, 19 February , 2008 17:28:00
MARK COLVIN: One of the Bali Nine has spoken publicly for the first time on the electronic media about his situation and his hopes of being able to leave a Bali jail, despite that fact that he faces the death penalty.
Scott Rush, who was arrested on drug trafficking charges in Indonesia, has spoken to SBS Television from his prison cell.
He says he never realised the implications that his actions could have, or that it was even possible to be executed for smuggling heroin.
Donna Field reports.
DONNA FIELD: These are dark days for Scott Rush. The 22-year-old from Brisbane is far from home in a foreign prison, with little to think of but impending death at the hands of an Indonesian executioner.
He was originally sentenced to life in prison for his role in an attempt to smuggle eight kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia in 2005.
He appealed, but rather than being shortened, his sentence was increased to death.
Scott Rush spoke to SBS Television's "Cutting Edge" program about that decision
SCOTT RUSH: I just thought it was bullshit. I mean, the fact, like, that any of us get the death penalty is bullshit. I mean …
JOURNALIST: Does that torment you, the thought of dying?
SCOTT RUSH: Yeah, it does, it weighs on my mind every, pretty much every second of the day. I mean, I can't have a normal conversation like I used to be able to because of this. It's always in my mind.
DONNA FIELD: Five other members of the drug syndicate are also facing execution.
In his first interview since the death penalty was imposed, Scott Rush speaks of regret for his parents. And he explains why he became a drug mule.
SCOTT RUSH: I didn't have a concrete job at the time. I was, I was waiting to go to the air force. I mean, I think about this and sometimes and the answer changes in my own head. But, I …
JOURNALIST: But you'd never been overseas, had you?
SCOTT RUSH: No.
JOURNALIST: You didn't have a passport. So, what, you thought there was just a buck in it and see what happens, or?
SCOTT RUSH: Kind of, yeah. I mean, everyone likes a bit of adventure now and then.
DONNA FIELD: Scott Rush was a drug user, and during the trial he said that he was young and unworldly. He said it was threats against his family that forced him to carry the heroin that was strapped to his body when he was arrested at the Bali Airport.
In the SBS interview, he says the decision to join the Bali Nine never sat easily with him and he wasn't aware of what could go wrong.
SCOTT RUSH: Quite honestly, I didn't really want to come here, because I didn't, I didn't feel comfortable. I didn't know what I was risking. I didn't know there was a death penalty. I didn't know anything about Bali, really.
DONNA FIELD: Scott Rush still hopes to be spared the firing squad, and eventually leave his Bali prison cell.
SCOTT RUSH: I feel that I will. I mean, if I've got any sort of instinct. Obviously, I'm hoping that I will, continuously thinking about it every day.
DONNA FIELD: Rush's last avenue of appeal is a Supreme Court review of his sentence. His family will also ask Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to make a plea to the Indonesian President for clemency.
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.
Saudi Arabia executes man for murdering Otaibah tribe woman RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has executed a native citizen. The Ministry of Interior of Saudi Arabia has announced that the execution of a man named Basil Bin Suhail has been carried out. Basil was executed for killing a woman by hitting her with a car.
The Osaka District Court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit by death row inmates that claimed same-day notifications of executions violate the Constitution — the first ruling of its kind. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against the government in hopes of sparking a wider discussion on the rights of death row prisoners. They also sought ¥22 million in compensation and plan to appeal to a higher court.
In a rare joint statement, the district attorney and the defense agreed that prosecutors withheld evidence that could point to a Rio Grande Valley woman’s innocence in the death of her toddler. A district judge who previously presided over a woman’s capital murder case recommended last week that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturn Melissa Lucio's 2008 conviction after a district attorney’s office admitted that prosecutors withheld evidence from her defense.
Programme on state television discloses new details and punishments from espionage cases as part of a campaign marking National Security Education Day Authorities in Beijing have revealed that a Chinese scientist who was convicted in 2015 of selling state secrets to foreign spy agencies was executed in 2016, one of several “shocking” spy cases.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments centering on an Arizona death row prisoner that could set new precedent to determining ineffective assistance of counsel. A Mohave County Superior Court jury convicted Danny Lee Jones for the 1992 murders of Robert Weaver and his daughter Tisha, as well as the attempted murder of Weaver’s grandmother. A judge sentenced Jones to death for the two murders.
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 15 2024: Marjan Hajizadeh and Esmail Hassaniani, a couple sentenced to death for drug-related charges in a joint case, were executed in Zanjan Central Prison. Marjan is reported to have been 16 at the time of arrest, which IHRNGO is working to confirm. If verified, she will be the first child offender executed for drug charges since 2014. She was also a child bride forced into marriage.
The Alabama Supreme Court has authorized the execution of a man convicted of killing a delivery driver who stopped at an ATM. Justices granted the Alabama attorney general's request to authorize an execution date for Keith Edmund Gavin. Governor Kay Ivey will set the day of the execution, which will be carried out by lethal injection.
The Islamic Republic has executed eight more prisoners over the past few days amid a significant spike in death penalties. On April 14, 2024, Hamedan Prison executed Arsalan Hashemi, a man convicted of drug offenses, according to human rights group HRANA.
There’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430. When Louisiana legislators approved the use of nitrogen gas asphyxiation as an execution method during a second special legislative session in February, the move attracted national attention; not the least because it has only been used in the U.S. once. That’s when Alabama executed convicted killer Kenneth Eugene Smith on January 25th of this year. Now there’s an effort underway, in the current legislative session in Baton Rouge, to reverse course on the controversial execution method with Senate Bill 430.
