03 September 2013 :

the UN’s Human Rights Office voiced concern about Vietnam resuming executions after a two-year hiatus in the use of capital punishment, warning that dozens more were poised to die. “We are dismayed by the resumption of the death penalty by Vietnam,” the office’s spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly told reporters. “This resumption represents a major setback in Vietnam’s human rights record. We are also deeply concerned at some 116 death row prisoners who have exhausted their appeals and face imminent execution,” said Pouilly. “We urge the government not to carry out further executions and to join the growing number of UN member states that have established a moratorium on the death penalty, or abolished this practice altogether, including 19 states in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Pouilly. Vietnam should also declassify official data on its use of the death penalty, which is covered by state secrecy laws, she added.