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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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Malaysia: Two policemen sentenced to death

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April 9, 2009: a Malaysian court sentenced two policemen to death for murdering a Mongolian woman who was blown up with explosives after she ended an affair with the prime minister's friend.

Ending the 159-day trial, High Court Judge Zaki Yasin convicted Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar with murdering Altantuya Shaariibuu, 28, sometime between October 19 and October 20, 2006.

In 2008, Zaki acquitted Abdul Razak Bangida, a close associate of Prime Minister Najib Razak, of charges of abetting the murder.

Source: Wall Street Journal, 09/04/2009
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