First Person: Surviving death row in Thailand Mariyam Tadein was 21 years old when she was sentenced to death. Police found over half a million tablets of “yaba”, an illegal cocktail of methamphetamine and caffeine popular in many parts of Southeast Asia, in the house she was renting in southern Thailand. “I spent 20 years, five months, and 15 days in prison. I was sentenced to death, along with a person who was executed by lethal injection. I knew I was next, that I was going to die. There were enough yaba tablets in that house to fill an entire truck. They weren’t mine; but it did not matter. I got to prison and everything happened fast: I was charged with drug trafficking and sentenced to death. Back then, I was ready to die. Death penalty stigma For the next two years, I had to wear a sign at all times that said Death Penalty. I faced death for eight years. But it was during the last two that I accepted it as I was put on a special training course on how to face the countdown to death.…