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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Visualization: Executions on Perry's Watch

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250 Executions Under Governor Rick Perry
Source: The Texas Tribune
Wednesday's execution of Donnie Lee Roberts Jr., 41, for the 2003 shooting death of a Polk County woman marked the 250th execution during Gov. Rick Perry’s tenure. It is, by far, the largest number of executions under any recent governor in the United States, and Perry has rarely used his power to grant clemency. He has granted 31 death row commutations, most of them — 28 — the result of a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision banning capital punishment for minors.

As Roberts' execution approached on Wednesday, Amnesty International USA, which opposes the death penalty, called on Perry to support clemency in this and future cases and to work toward ending the practice in Texas.

“Governor Perry’s anachronistic enthusiasm for state killing is in stark contrast to the clear trend away from the death penalty exhibited by ordinary Texans in juries, where death sentences have declined dramatically over the last dozen years," said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of Amnesty International USA.


Source: The Texas Tribune, November 1, 2012
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20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

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