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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. 

Saudi Arabia beheads two Pakistanis in year’s first executions

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Public beheading in Saudi Arabia
Public beheading in Saudi Arabia
Last year, Saudi Arabia executed 78 people

Riyadh: Saudi authorities beheaded Tuesday two Pakistanis for drug smuggling in the ultraconservative kingdom’s first executions of the year, the interior ministry said.

Abrar Hussain Nizar Hussain was executed in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after being convicted of trying to smuggle in heroin hidden in his stomach, the ministry said in a statement carried by SPA state news agency.

Zahid Khan Barakat was beheaded in Qatif, in Eastern Province, over a similar charge, a separate statement said.

Last year, Saudi Arabia executed 78 people, according to an AFP count.

In 2012, Saudi Arabia carried out 76 executions, according to a tally based on official figures. Rights group Amnesty International put 2012’s figure at 79.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery, homosexuality and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under the nation’s strict version sharia.

Source: Agence France-Presse, January 14, 2014
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