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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 rapist

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TEHRAN — Iran has hanged in prison a man convicted of raping several women in the central city of Isfahan, ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.

The man, only identified as Hossein M., was found guilty of raping several women after offering them a ride and then threatening to kill them, the report said, quoting Isfahan's judiciary.

It did not say when the hanging took place.

The latest hanging brings the number of executions in Iran to at least 145 so far this year, according to an AFP count based on media reports. At least 270 people were executed in 2009.

Iran is one of the leading countries that carry out the death penalty each year, along with China, Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The Islamic republic says the death penalty is essential to maintain public security and is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

Murder, rape, armed robbery, drug trafficking, homosexuality and adultery are all punishable by death in Iran.

Source: AFP, November 27, 2010
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