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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: Delara Darabi's execution postponed

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April 19, 2009: Iranian human rights activists say the execution of juvenile offender Delara Darabi has been postponed.

Darabi, who was due to be executed on April 20, was sentenced to death for a murder she allegedly committed at the age of 17.

Darabi's lawyer, Abdolsamad Khoramshahi, said the victim's family has refused to attend the execution by hanging. Iranian law requires that the verdict be carried out only in the presence of the victim's family, resulting in the postponement.

Khoramshahi said the victim's family has not changed its demand for the execution.

Darabi originally confessed to murdering an elderly female relative during a robbery. But she subsequently retracted her confession, saying that her boyfriend committed the murder and she agreed to take the blame when he told her she was too young to be sentenced to death.
Her lawyer says there were shortcomings in the proceedings.

Sources: RFE/RL, 19/04/2009
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