- Margaret Macharia Nduta is expected to be executed at 8.30pm Kenyan time on Sunday, March 16, in Vietnam
- In 2011, Vietnam transitioned to the use of lethal injection after the passage of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgements
- However, Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’Oei disclosed that the Kenyan government had pleaded with Vietnamese authorities to stay the execution
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Amos Khaemba, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over four years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.
Vietnam: The 37-year-old Kenyan woman, Margaret Nduta, is facing execution in Vietnam after she was convicted of smuggling drugs.
Why might the government not succeed in saving Margaret Nduta?
Nduta was convicted and handed a death sentence last week after she was found guilty of smuggling drugs into Vietnam in July 2023.
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Despite ongoing diplomatic efforts, Kenyan Foreign Policy founding director Mwangi Maina suggested that the government might not save Nduta.
Mwangi explained that Vietnam’s legal system is notoriously unforgiving when it comes to smuggling drug, and its history suggests that external appeals rarely succeed.
He stated that even though Nairobi has petitioned the Vietnamese government to stay the execution, the chances of a favorable outcome are virtually nonexistent.
The foreign affairs expert, argued that unlike some nations, the Southeast Asian country does not routinely consider diplomatic pressure in capital punishment cases.
If the government’s diplomatic efforts fail, the 37-year-old Kenyan would be executed at 8.30pm on Sunday, March 16.
Initially, Vietnam authorities used firing squads to carry out executions, but the law was changed in 2011 after the passage of the Law on Execution of Criminal Judgements, and they transitioned to lethal injection.
According to Law Net, the lethal injection method involves the administration of a lethal injection, which is a method adopted by many countries around the world as a more humane method of execution.
The execution of the death penalty by lethal injection is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Decree 82/2011/ND-CP and Decree 47/2013/ND-CP, amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 82/2011/ND-CP.
According to Advocates for Human Rights, Vietnam normally deploys three forms of drugs during execution: the drug that induces unconsciousness, the drug that causes paralysis of the motor system, and a drug that stops the heart function.
The officer directly executing the death penalty is responsible for performing three steps before reporting to the Chairman of the Execution Council.
Step 1. Inject the drug that induces unconsciousness
The officer is expected to identify the vein for injection after preparing the three doses. After identifying the vein, he inserts the needle connected to the drug infusion tube and injects the drug that induces unconsciousness.
Step 2. Inject the drug that causes paralysis of the motor system
After administering the injection, the execution specialist must check if the convict has lost consciousness.
If not, the officer in charge of the execution continues injecting until they lose consciousness he then injects the drug that causes paralysis of the motor system.
Step 3: Inject the drug that stops the heart function
The final injection is where the drug that causes the heart to stop functioning is used.
If, after ten minutes of the third injection, the convict is not dead, the checker must report to the Chairman of the Execution Council to order the use of the backup dose and continue the injection process for the second time.-
Once the forensic doctor confirms the convict’s death, the execution officer, on order of the Execution Council Chairman, will cease the infusion and remove the needle and tubes.
More to follow…
Source: TUKO.co.ke
