Execution of woman is first in 20 years

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand has executed its first female prisoner in two decades, the Corrections Department said in a statement today. It said that Samai Barn-in, 59, was executed by firing squad late yesterday, along with two men. She received the death sentence after police found four kilograms of heroin in her possession in 1994. She had 12 previous convictions for drug offences. Also executed yesterday were hitman Yongyuth Pholphan, 38, found guilty of pre-meditated murder, and a Burmese, Tong Yun, 51, convicted of killing his Thai wife in 1996. Sixteen people have been executed in Thailand so far this year. The country reinstated the death penalty in 1996 after an eight-year break.