Dec. 9
IRAN:
Report: Iran Has Executed 529 People in 2013----More than 300 killed since
'moderate' Rouhani took office
Iran has executed 529 people this year, including more 300 since President
Hassan Rouhani assumed office in August, according to a tally compiled by the
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC).
The number of executions have significantly spiked since Rouhani took office,
leading some to argue that this clashes with his image as a moderate reformer.
Iran now has the dubious honor of being the global leader per capita in
executions, according to the IHRDC.
The sharp spike in killing has prompted criticism from some observers who say
that the United States and other Western nations are ignoring Tehran's massive
human rights infractions in order to facilitate Iran's approval of a final
nuclear accord.
"Under the shadow of negotiations, however, Iran's appalling human rights
situation has hardly changed," Iranian activists Payam Akhavan and Shirin Ebadi
wrote in a recent Washington Post op-ed.<>P> Executions have actually increased
as Tehran engages in talks with the West, according to Akhavan and Ebadi.
Many of those executed by Iran, mainly by hanging, were accused of being a
"Moharebeh," or one who is designated as "waging war against God" under Islamic
law.
Many others were hung in secrecy and after being convicted of crimes during
closed trials that human rights observers classified as unfair and lacking in
international standards.
However, others maintain that the spike is a result of internal divisions and
power struggles between Iran's so-called moderate wing and its more hardline
judiciary.
The execution figures are compiled from both official and unofficial reports in
the Iranian media and elsewhere. The Iranian government has officially
acknowledged at least 400 executions in 2013.
The White House admits that human rights issues are not being discussed during
the nuclear negotiations.
"As we have consistently made clear, the P5+1 negotiations with Iran have
focused exclusively on the nuclear issue," a senior Obama administration
official told the Washington Free Beacon. "It is important to note that
progress on the nuclear issue does not change our resolve in pushing back
against Iranian support for terrorism, threats against our friends and
partners, and violations of human rights."
Iranian officials and others have said that the United States unsuccessfully
attempted to broach human rights and other issues during the talks.
"The Americans asked to open other files during the nuclear negotiation, but
the Iranians insisted on limiting the debate," Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah was quoted as saying earlier this month.
An Iranian official made similar claims to al-Monitor.
"Iran knows what it wants, and that's what we are after," an anonymous Iranian
official was quoted as saying.
"The Syrian crisis wasn't at the heart of the negotiations, but it was
discussed thoroughly during side talks," the source reportedly said. "Moreover,
there was an American request that we discuss possible options whenever the
nuclear deal is sealed, and that's why some regional powers asked the French to
put their spanners [wrench] into the talks, and here we are."
Iran has long been a global leader in executions and political imprisonment.
Many of those executed are drug dealers and traffickers who have been arrested
and imprisoned on charges that do not adhere to international judicial
standards.
Most of these Iranian drug convicts are killed publicly, often by hanging from
a crane.
Another four political prisoners from the ethnic minority Ahwazi Arab
population were executed under questionable circumstances last week after
facing torture, imprisonment, and secret trials that activists criticized as
unfair.
Former Pentagon adviser Michael Rubin said that Iran's moderate outreach is
often paired with a domestic crackdown.
"It's a common pattern: Iran always couples external outreach with increasing
repression at home," said Rubin, author of Dancing with the Devil: The Perils
of Engaging Rogue Regimes.
"Basically, the ayatollahs are telling their people: 'Make no mistake. Our
moderation is for external consumption only. And to make sure you understand
that, we are going to ramp up executions,'" Rubin said.
(source: The Washington Free Beacon)
VIETNAM:
Filipino arrested with cocaine at Vietnam airport
Hanoi authorities arrested a Philippine passenger for carrying 3.6 kilograms of
cocaine at Noi Bai International Airport on Saturday. Custom officers at the
airport said scanners found 18 packs of white powder in the suitcase of Kamacho
Sillo Emmanul, 38, after he arrived on a flight from Singapore at 11:50 a.m.
They said the packs were hidden in socks.
The passenger had started his journey in Sao Paulo, Brazil, before transferring
in Singapore and landing in Hanoi.
Subsequent tests showed the white powder was cocaine weighing a total of 3.6
kilograms.
The passenger was handed over to local anti-narcotics police for investigation.
Vietnam has some of the world's toughest drug laws. According to its Penal
Code, those convicted of smuggling 100 grams of heroin or cocaine or 300 grams
of other drugs can be sentenced to death.
On August 20, a 31-year-old Thai woman was sentenced to death after a Ho Chi
Minh City court found her guilty of smuggling nearly two kilograms of cocaine
from Brazil to Vietnam last October.
A day earlier, the HCMC court also sentenced Ejiogu Benjamin Ikechukwu, 31, a
Nigerian man, to death for smuggling more than 3.4 kilograms of methamphetamine
from Qatar into Vietnam in June last year.
In October 2012, Vietnam sentenced a 61-year-old Filipina to death after she
was caught smuggling five kilograms (11 pounds) of methamphetamine into the
country.
4 months earlier, a HCMC court handed down the death penalty to a 23-year-old
female student from Thailand for trafficking three kilograms of methamphetamine
from Benin to Vietnam.
(source: Thanh Nien News)
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