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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Australian Federal Police has handed Scott Rush's dossier to Indonesian authorities

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The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has given Indonesian authorities all the information it has on Bali Nine drug mule Scott Rush ahead of his final death penalty appeal.

Rush was one of nine Australians convicted over the 2005 attempt to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia.

The 24-year-old was originally sentenced to life in prison but Indonesia's Supreme Court later substituted the death penalty. Rush's final appeal against the sentence will happen on Thursday.

AFP Commissioner Tony Negus on Tuesday said the organisation had provided the Indonesian courts with all the information it had about Rush's role in the plot.

"We have responded to requests to provide more information about the role individuals have played in this case," Mr Negus told reporters in Brisbane.

"... it is up to the Indonesian courts to make a determination but we are happy to provide what support we can to give them, the full range of material we have.

"We have said publicly before that we think Scott was somebody who had not been involved (in drug running) before and was asked to do a certain role and we think it's the first time he has been involved."

The appeal, known as a judicial review, will seek to prove Rush was a minor player in the plot.

It will rely heavily on letters from former AFP commissioner Mick Keelty and current deputy commissioner Michael Phelan, saying Rush was only a courier, not an organiser of the plot.

Source: AAP, August 24, 2010
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