THAILAND: DRUG TRAFFICKERS EXECUTED BY LETHAL INJECTION

August 24, 2009: two men were executed by lethal injection in the prison of Bang Khwang, Thailand.
Bundit Jaroenwanit, 45, and Jirawat Poompreuk, 52, were arrested in 2001 for drug trafficking, the police had surprised them with a cargo of 114,219 pearls of methamphetamine, worth 1.2 million U.S. dollars. It is the second case of death by lethal injection since 2003, when an amendment to Article 19 of the Criminal Code changed the terms of execution: from death by firing squad to lethal injection.
The death row inmates received three injections: the first a sedative, the second to relax their muscles and the third, the fatal one, a drug that stopped their hearts.  
Chartchai Sitthikrom, from the Committee for the prevention and control of drug trafficking, explained that this is an "exemplary" punishment in stopping others involved drug trafficking.
"A prisoner awaiting death lives in suffering – he adds - without knowing when the time of death will come. They are dead men walking, under pressure and without freedom”. (Sources: Asia News, 26/08/2009)