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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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Iran hangs three

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3 Iranians convicted of murder have been hanged in the south of the country, local newspapers reported on Saturday.

1 man convicted of killing 2 people and identified by only his 1st name Heshmat was hanged last week in prison in the town of Kazeroon, the government newspaper Iran said.

2 other men were executed on Wednesday in Adel-Abad prison in the southern town of Shiraz, the Etemad newspaper reported. The latest hangings bring to at least 41 the number of executions in Iran so far this year. Iran executed at least 246 people last year, according to an AFP count.

Last year the Islamic republic stepped up its use of the death penalty in what it says is a bid to improve security in society.

Amnesty International says Iran carried out more death sentences in 2007 than any other country apart from China which executed 317 people.

Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking and adultery.

Source: Agence France-Presse, Jan. 31, 2009
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