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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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Saudi Arabia: new execution

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April 14, 2009: a Yemeni was beheaded by the sword in Saudi Arabia for garrotting a compatriot with a length of wire in a dispute over money, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the SPA news agency.

Fikri Mohammed Hassan Saleh was executed in the southwestern town of Jazan for killing a fellow Yemeni, identified only as Najib.

Saleh was allegedly under the influence of alcohol when he committed the crimes.

Source: Agence France Presse, 14/04/2009
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