VIETNAM: LETHAL DRUG SHORTAGE OFFERS DEATH-ROW PRISONERS REPRIEVE

Hundreds of death-row prisoners in Vietnam have been given a reprieve of sorts due to a shortage of the drug used for lethal injections, a newspaper said.
Death by firing squad was replaced by lethal injections to reduce suffering last July - but police have failed to execute anyone since.
"In the past year, the execution of more than 400 inmates has not been able to go ahead. More than 100 of them have completed all the paperwork," Deputy Police Minister Dang Van Hieu was quoted by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper as saying.
"Their execution awaits the drug, which is not available yet." He said imports of the unspecified drug "had proved difficult".
The newspaper did not give any suggestion of how the problem could be solved.