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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.

URGENT ACTION - Indonesia: 6 executed, 9 more at risk

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The Indonesian authorities executed six people by firing squad on 18 January. Nine more people are at risk of execution. 

Rani Andriani alias Melisa Aprilia (Indonesian), Daniel Enemuo (Nigerian), Ang Kiem Soei (Dutch), Tran Thi Bich Hanh (Vietnamese), Namaona Denis (Nigerian) and Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (Brazilian) were executed by firing squad just after midnight on 18 January. All were convicted of and sentenced to death for drug-related offenses. Five of them were executed on Nusakambangan Island while Tran Thi Bich Hanh was executed in Boyolali district, both in Central Java. 

Amnesty International is concerned that more executions will follow. The Indonesian government announced in December 2014 that 20 people are scheduled to be executed in 2015. Nine men are at imminent risk of execution after their clemency applications were rejected by President Joko Widodo in December 2014 and January 2015. They are Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar (Indonesian), Harun bin Ajis (Indonesian), Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi (Indonesian), Myuran Sukumaran (Australian), Andrew Chan (Australian), Martin Anderson alias Belo (Ghanaian), Zainal Abidin (Indonesian), Raheem Agbaje Salami ‎(Nigerian) and Rodrigo Gularte (Brazilian). They were convicted for either premeditated murder or drug-related crimes. Another two people have also had their clemency applications rejected. 

Death sentences in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad. The prisoner has the choice of standing or sitting and whether to have their eyes covered, by a blindfold or hood. Firing squads are made up of 12 people, three of whose rifles are loaded with live ammunition, while the other nine rifles are loaded with blanks. The squad fires from a distance of between five and 10 meters. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION 

The following is further information on the nine men: 

* Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar, Harun bin Ajis and Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi, all Indonesian nationals, were sentenced to death by the Bangko District Court in November 2001 for the murder of seven members of an indigenous community (Suku Anak Dalam) in Merangin District, Jambi Province.

* Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Australian nationals, were sentenced to death by the Denpasar District Court in February 2006 for attempting to traffic more than 8 kilograms of heroin to Australia in 2005.

* Martin Anderson alias Belo, a Ghanaian national, was sentenced to death by the South Jakarta District Court in June 2004 after being convicted of possessing 50 grams of heroin in Jakarta in November 2003.

* Zainal Abidin, an Indonesian national, was initially sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the Palembang District Court in September 2001 for smuggling 58.7 kilograms of marijuana. He was later sentenced to death by the Palembang High Court in December 2001.

* Raheem Agbaje Salami, a Nigerian national, was initially sentenced to life imprisonment by the Surabaya District Court in April 1999 for smuggling 5.3 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia at the Juanda airport, East Java province in September 1998. In May 2006 he was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court and was not able to appeal against his death sentence to a higher court, a right guaranteed by Safeguard No.6 of the UN Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, approved by Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 1984.

* Rodrigo Gularte, a Brazilian national, was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court in February 2005 for smuggling six kilograms of cocaine into Indonesia at the Cengkareng airport, Banten province. According to his lawyer, he has paranoid schizophrenia and has not been able to recognize or discuss his case with his counsel. International law and standards on the use of capital punishment clearly state that the death penalty should not be imposed or carried out on people with mental or intellectual disabilities. This applies whether the disability was relevant at the time of their alleged commission of the crime or developed after the person was sentenced to death. 


Name: Rani Andriani alias Melisa Aprilia (f), Daniel Enemuo (m), Ang Kiem Soei (m), Tran Thi Bich Hanh (f), Namaona Denis (m), Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (m), Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar (m), Harun bin Ajis (m), Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi (m), Myuran Sukumaran (m), Andrew Chan (m), Martin Anderson alias Belo (m), Zainal Abidin (m), Raheem Agbaje Salami (m) and Rodrigo Gularte (m).

Issues: Death penalty, Imminent execution, Legal concern

Further information on UA: 305/14 (5 December 2014) and update (January 13 2015, 15 January 2015)

Issue Date: 30 January 2015

Country: Indonesia 

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! 

EITHER send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with "UA 305/14" in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent. 

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action. 

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the below date. This is the third update of UA 305/14.
Further information: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA21/003/2015/en. If you receive a response from a government official, please forward it to us at uan@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below. 

HOW YOU CAN HELP 

Please write immediately in English, Indonesian or your own language: 
* Urging the authorities to immediately halt plans to carry out any executions; 
* Calling on them to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty and to commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment; 
* Pointing out that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments and that the decision to resume executions has set Indonesia against the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty and the country’s own progress in this area. 

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 MARCH 2015 TO: 

President of the Republic of Indonesia 
H. E. Joko Widodo 
Istana Merdeka 
Jakarta Pusat 10110 
Indonesia 
Fax: 011 62 21 386 4816 / 011 62 21 344 2233 
Twitter: jokowi_do2 
Salutation: Dear President 

Attorney General 
H. M. Prasetyo 
Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1, Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12160, Indonesia 
Fax: 011 62 21 722 1269 / 011 62 21 725 0213 
Salutation: Dear Attorney General 

And copies to: 
State Secretariat Minister 
Pratikno 
Gedung Sekretariat Negara RI 
Sayap Timur Lantai 3 
Jalan Veteran III No. 10 
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia 10110 
Fax: 011 62 21 345 6189 

Also send copies to: 
H.E. Ambassador Budi Bowoleksono, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia 
2020 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036 
Fax: 1 202 775 5365 I Phone: 1 202 775 5200 I Email: ikuhn@embassyofindonesia.org or 

Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/1KeNhxK

We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues! When you share with your 
networks, instead of forwarding the original email, please use the "Forward this email to a friend" link found at the very bottom of this email. Thank you for your activism! 

UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003 
T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. uan@aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent 

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com
Location: Indonesia
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