Nevertheless, studies of proved false confessions suggest a number of recurring markers including actual violence, threats of violence, threats of harsh sentences like execution and extreme duress brought about by isolation, sleeplessness and lengthy, high-pressure interrogation.
They were prepared to smuggle drugs out of a country notorious for its harsh treatment, including execution, of drug dealers.
In part 4 of The Islamic State, VICE News visits the Sharia courts where those accused of infractions are sentenced to harsh penalties, including execution followed by public crucifixion.
But human rights activists have long said that the North suppresses Christianity, imposing harsh penalties, including executions, on citizens convicted of contact with missionaries.
Some of these countries, such as China and Indonesia, use International Anti-Drugs Day to promote harsh penalties, unveiling executions or long prison sentences in the run-up to the event.
And Iraqi Kurdistan has long hosted an internationally condemned Kurdish movement called the Kurdistan Workers Partyy (PKK), which has issued harsh punishments, including executions, to Kurds who refuse to collaborate with it.
Saudi Arabia has also come under fire for handing out harsh sentences beyond executions, like in the case of political activists, who can receive 10 to 15 year prison sentences for crimes like inciting public opinion and undermining the regime.
The leading legal theorist Stephen J. Morse freely admits that harsh prison conditions and execution are only morally tolerable where the presumption of free choice exists (1976a; 2004).
But right across the festival, Indonesian and Australian writers did share stages, casting recent diplomatic relations between the two states – including the Bali Nine executions – into harsh relief, while throwing up troubling commonalities, too.
Small-scale armed resistance to the Hungarian occupation commenced in the latter half of 1941 and was answered with harsh measures, including summary executions, expulsions and internment.
