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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Ministers seek clemency for Canadian facing death penalty in Iran

Canadian officials issued an urgent appeal to the Iranian government Sunday, fearing an Iran-born Canadian sentenced to death could be executed “imminently.”

In a joint statement, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy said Canada was “gravely concerned” Hamid Ghassemi-Shall’s execution “may be carried out imminently.”

Ghassemi-Shall went to Iran in 2008 to visit his ailing mother but was jailed and sentenced to death for alleged crimes against the Iranian state.

“Canada urgently appeals to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to grant clemency to Mr. Ghassemi-Shall on compassionate and humanitarian grounds,” their statement said.

Amnesty International says the dual national was sentenced to death in 2008 on espionage-related charges.

“We urge Iran to reverse its current course and to adhere to its international human rights obligations,” the ministers added.

Source: The Vancouver Sun, April 15, 2012

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Jun 08, 2011
Meanwhile, Canadian Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, a Toronto salesman, is still on death row on espionage charges that human rights groups say are spurious. Thousands of political prisoners are being held in Iran, amid a wave of ...
Dec 06, 2010
He is the latest Canadian resident of Iranian descent to find himself facing punishment for supposed crimes against the state, joining Hamid Ghassemi-Shall, of Toronto, who is reportedly facing the death penalty, and Hussein ...

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