Death by hanging

 DASALA (8) FP  -- An American woman was sentenced to death

                                           for cocaine smuggling.
 

Death by hanging - 
Julie Stevens (30) sentenced to be executed on the gallows		 The 30-year-old American, Julie Stevens, collapsed when the sentence was read by the judge. She had proclaimed her innocence throughout her trial and insisted the drugs had been planted in her luggage.

The court could have sentenced her to twenty years in prison on a lesser charge,  but the judge said the laws of the country must be applied evenly to all people, including women and Americans.

The American had been on vacation in Dasala last July when she was arrested when authorities conducting a routine search discovered her luggage contained illegal drugs.
 
The judge ordered that the woman be hanged by the neck until dead. The date for the sentence will be set after the decision is affirmed by Dasala's highest court.
Mrs. Stevens will be the first American woman ever executed in Dasala.
Human Rights organizations protested the sentence and claimed the trial was unfair.

The American government refused to comment on the case.

Mrs. Stevens was ordered held in the notorious Dasala women's prison until her execution.

Julie Stevens leaving the High Court of Justice of Dasala,
after receiving the mandatory death sentence,
convicted of drug trafficking.
Executions in Dasala are normally carried out by hanging,
employing the so called "short drop method


Julie Stevens' story