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As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

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President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.
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Taiwan: Photo exhibitions, concert aim to provoke thoughts on death penalty

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Taipei, April 2 (CNA) A Japanese photographer and harpists from France and Taiwan are encouraging Taiwanese people to reconsider their thoughts on issues related to the death penalty through photo exhibitions and a concert in Taiwan, organizers said Monday.

The arts events kicked off in Taipei Monday with a two-day display of 16 photos taken by U.S.-based photographer Toshi Kazama, featuring pictures of death-row inmates in the United States and Taiwan, execution sites, execution devices like the electric chair and a prisoner's last meal.

Taiwan ended a four-year-long moratorium on executions in 2010, executing four prisoners that year and another five in March of 2011, drawing criticism from the European Union and human rights advocates.

Speaking at a news conference, Kazama said he wanted to encourage the Taiwanese public to think deeply about more aspects of the practice of capital punishment.


Source: Focus Taiwan, April 2, 2012
Location: Taiwan
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