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After acquittal of ex-death row inmate, debate needed on Japan's death penalty

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Japan should be ensuring the safety of its citizens, but instead it is taking people's lives. Is it acceptable to maintain the ultimate penalty under such circumstances? This is a serious question for society. The acquittal of 88-year-old Iwao Hakamada, who had been handed the death penalty, has been finalized after prosecutors decided not to appeal the verdict issued by the Shizuoka District Court during his retrial.

Iranian woman facing death penalty may be spared

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Iran: Watching a public hanging
An Iranian woman facing a death sentence in a murder case that some have labeled a miscarriage of justice may be spared the gallows, Iranian judicial officials said Monday.

Authorities were seeking consent from the family of the victim to vacate the capital judgment against Reyhaneh Jabbari, according to an Iranian judiciary spokesman, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, who made the comments at his weekly news conference.

Meanwhile, the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency quoted Justice Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi as saying that the hanging of Jabbari would be put off for at least a month.

Observers said the comments probably meant that Iranian authorities had decided to commute the death sentence for Jabbari, whose case has been widely circulated on various social media forums. It was unclear whether Jabbari could face more prison time if spared execution.

Fears that her execution was imminent were raised late last month when she was moved to another prison, but then quickly returned to her original lockup.

Jabbari was arrested in 2007 and sentenced to death in 2009 for the murder of Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi, a doctor and former Intelligence Ministry employee, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based rights watchdog has called on Iranian authorities to cancel the execution.

The case against her is murky, defense lawyers say. Jabbari admitted stabbing Sarbandi in the neck, but said that he had attempted to assault her sexually, Human Rights Watch said. She also asserted that a “third person” may have been responsible for the death, according to Human Rights Watch.


Source: Los Angeles Times, October 7, 2014
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