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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.

Algeria: 3 Algerians sentenced to death for murder

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3 Algerians accused of abducting and killing a young man 1 year ago in the Kabylie region have been handed the death penalty, Algerian media reported on Tuesday.

A 4th defendant, accused of demanding a ransom with threats, was jailed for 3 years and fined, the national APS news agency reported.

Defence lawyers had asked the court in Tizi Ouzou, the main city in Kabylie, to reclassify the charges as "assault leading to death," but the judge refused, according to Algerian daily El Watan.

The court instead convicted the 3 suspects of pre-meditated murder, kidnapping for ransom and hiding the body of the victim, which was found several days after he was abducted.

They were given the death penalty, which is still on Algeria's statute books, although no execution has been carried out since 1993.

A clear motive for the killing was not established.

Ghilas Hadjou, 19, the son of a businessman in the costal town of Azeffoune, was kidnapped on October 18 last year.

He was lured to the house of 1 of the 3 murder suspects, then under construction, where he was severely beaten and strangled, according to the police.

After killing Hadjou, they telephoned the 4th defendant and asked him to call the victim's father and demand the payment of a 50 million dinar (4.6 million euro) ransom to secure his son's release.

The day after Hadjou's body was found buried on the beach in Azeffoune, the suspects, who all knew the victim, were arrested.

The kidnapping sparked an emotional reaction, with the people of Azeffoune going on strike at the time, amid rumours that jihadist group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which has strong ties to the Kabylie region, was responsible.

Since 2005, more than 70 people have been kidnapped in Algeria's restive eastern region, according to local media, with most of them freed after a ransom was paid.

Source: The Daily Star, November 19, 2013
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