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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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Malaysian Minister: "An Eye for An Eye Leads to Blindness"

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A senior Malaysian minister on Sunday reportedly urged the government to abolish the death penalty amid outrage from rights groups.

The call came during a debate over executions — carried out in Malaysia by hanging — after Kuala Lumpur last month sought clemency from Singapore for a young Malaysian drug trafficker who is facing the gallows in the city-state.

Both Malaysia and Singapore have tough anti-drug laws and rarely seek clemency for nationals facing drug charges in other countries.

“If it is wrong to take someone’s life, then the government should not do it either,” Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz told the Sunday Star newspaper.

“No criminal justice system is perfect. You take a man’s life and years later, you find out that another person did the crime. What can you do?” said the senior minister.

Local rights groups have long campaigned against the death penalty, which is mandatory for murder, drug trafficking and possession of firearms among other crimes in the country. Campaigners said the sentence was inhumane.

Malaysia filed a clemency plea to Singapore last month over the case of Yong Vui Kong, a 22-year-old who is facing the death penalty after he was convicted in 2008 of trafficking 47 grams of heroin into Singapore.

The case has received wide attention in the two countries. Yong, who was19 when he was arrested, said he has repented and pledged to campaign against drugs.

Amnesty International says Singapore has one of the highest per capita execution rates in the world. It put 420 people to death between 1991 and 2004.

Activists said Malaysia carried out 358 hangings between 1981 and 2005. 

Source: Agence France-Presse, August 29, 2010
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