This guillotine was used by the French to execute prisoners and was also associated with the "Law 10/59" of the Ngô Đình Diệm regime.

Previously, this guillotine was located at Hỏa Lò Prison (Hanoi) (i.e Fiery Furnace Prison) and executed three revolutionaries: Nguyễn Thái Học, Ký Con and Nguyễn Khắc Nhu. It was also once transferred to Hai Phong to execute comrade Nguyễn Đức Cảnh. Later, it was transported to Saigon to execute patriotic scholars who opposed the French colonial rule such as: Ngô Thiêm, Trần Chương, Lý Tự Trọng...

After the French were defeated and withdrew from Vietnam, the US brought Ngô Đình Diệm to power in South Vietnam. The guillotine was used as a tool to execute convicts sentenced under Law 10/59 "War crimes against the Republic of Vietnam regime". According to Law

10/59, the verdict only had two levels: death penalty or life imprisonment, no reduction of sentence, no appeal, the verdict must be enforced immediately. According to historian John Guinane, from 1957 to 1959 alone, more than 2,000 people were executed for the crimes of rebellion or supporting communism, often by guillotine.

After the fierce condemnation and resistance of the people of South Vietnam, the Ngô Đình Diệm regime put the guillotine in the material warehouse at Chí Hoà prison. Therefore, comrade Hoàng Lê Kha, a member of the Tây Ninh provincial Party Committee, is said to be the last and highest-ranking member of the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam to be executed by guillotine in Vietnam.