Jan. 10
SAUDI ARABIA----executions
Three drug traffickers beheaded in Saudi
Saudi Arabian authorities Monday beheaded 3 foreign drug traffickers in
the holy city of Mecca, in the west of the kingdom.
An Interior Ministry statement said the 3 convicts, a Pakistani and 2 Thai
nationals, were executed with a sword, in accordance with Islamic law.
Monday's triple executions brought to 6 the number of people beheaded in
the kingdom since the beginning of the new year.
As many as 35 people were executed last year in Saudi Arabia, mostly
smugglers. Some 52 people, including foreigners, were executed in 2003.
Executions of people convicted of murder, rape, armed robbery and drug
trafficking are conducted in public, in line with Shariah, the legal code
of Islam, which is applied in the conservative Muslim kingdom.
(source: United Press International)
VIETNAM:
6 death sentences imposed on drug traffickers
6 of 40 defendants in a drug-trafficking case were sentenced to death by
the HCM City People's Court on Monday after 5 days of trial.
5 others were sentenced to life imprisonment and the rest received
imprisonment sentences ranging from three to 20 years.
The syndicate was found guilty of trading a large volume of illicit drugs,
including more than 2.8 kg of heroin and 2, 480 pieces of opium from June,
2001 to March 20, 2002, when some of the syndicate members were caught
red-handed selling the drugs at Thu Thiem port on the Saigon river.
The police said some of drug suppliers remain at large and are being
tracked down.
(source: Vietnam News Agency)
