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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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Kuwait's Emir Sheikh commutes death sentence of Filipina maid

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December 9, 2007: Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah agreed to commute the death sentence on a Filipina maid to life in prison after a personal appeal by the visiting Philippine president.

"Normally I don't interfere in the judicial process. We have a separate judicial system," Philippines presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye quoted the emir as saying during a meeting with President Gloria Arroyo. "But since you are here to personally appeal for her, I will not sign the decree of execution. That is within my power," Bunye quoted Sheikh Sabah as telling Arroyo during their brief meeting.

Marilou Ranario was convicted of killing her female Kuwaiti employer in 2005.
Sheikh Sabah also vowed to "further reduce the penalty" when the parties sign a forgiveness letter, said Bunye in reference to an agreement by the victim's family to forgive Ranario.

Sources: Agence France Presse, 10/12/2007
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Iran: 27 executions in three days

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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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