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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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Indonesia to speed up drug executions

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INDONESIA says it will speed up the execution process of drug traffickers, in a major blow for three Australians on death row for heroin smuggling.

As authorities prepared for the executions last night of 2 Nigerian heroin smugglers, Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji said other drug offenders on death row could expect their cases to be expedited.

The head of Indonesia's anti-drugs group also said executions must take place more quickly to deter traffickers.

"To give them a lesson, drug traffickers must be executed immediately," Police chief and National Anti-Narcotic Body chairman General Sutanto said.

"With a quick trial and execution process it will give a deterrent effect to the perpetrators, and perpetrators-to-be," he said.

The comments are a blow for the 3 Australians on death row over the failed Bali 9 plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin into Australiain 2005.

The Nigerians were expected to be the 1st drug offenders put to death in Indonesia since 2004, and the 1st since the Bali 9 were arrested.

"The sentences are a grim reminder of how serious the issue of the death penalty is," said Darwin-based lawyer Colin MacDonald, QC, who represents Bali 9 death-row inmate Scott Rush.

Rush, who was a drug mule in the Bali 9 plot, and ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, failed in a legal challenge to Indonesia's harsh drug laws last year. They still have the option of seeking a judicial review of their death sentences, and a clemency appeal to the President.

Mr MacDonald said he was working hard to ensure Rush escaped the firing squad.

Officials said the 2 Nigerians had been moved to a special cell at their prison on Nusakambangan Island, off Central Java, before their executions by firing squad.

Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa, 40, was sentenced to die for trafficking 600 grams of heroin in 43 capsules, which he had swallowed in Pakistan before arriving at Jakarta airport.

Okoye was caught carrying 3.8 kilograms of heroin in the lining of 2 pieces of luggage at Jakarta airport, after arriving from India.

Source: AAP
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