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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High Court to hear review petitions of Rajiv killers on Tuesday
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Murugan, Santhan and Perarivalan
The Madras High Court will hear on Tuesday the review petitions of the three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, seeking an interim injunction to stay their execution.
Santhan, Murugan and Perarivalan have sought to set aside the August 12 order of the President, rejecting their mercy pleas and commute their death sentences to life on the ground of ‘undue delay’ in disposing of their mercy petitions.
Advocate N. Chandrasekaran made a mention in the court of Justice N. Paul Vasanthakumar on Monday morning, seeking an early hearing of the petitions, following which the Judge agreed to hear them on Tuesday.
In three separate petitions, the convicts also sought an interim injunction to stay their executions till disposal of their petitions.
They contended that their mercy pleas were with the President for 11 long years since April 26, 2000 before being rejected. They claimed ‘an unwarranted, illegal and unconstitutional delay is caused by the President and the Union of India in the disposal of the mercy petition.’ “No explanation has been offered either for the delay in forwarding of the mercy petitions by the state government to the President or the delay in disposal by both the authorities,” they contended.
They said they had sent fresh mercy petitions to the President on August 27.
The three convicts referred to the Supreme Court ruling in ’Madhu Mehta versus Union of India case, saying the Court had held that undue delay in execution of the death sentence would entitle the condemned person to approach the court under Art 32 (right to constitutional remedy) of the Constitution.
They contended that the Apex court had held ‘the court is entitled and indeed obliged to consider the question of inordinate delay in the light of all circumstances of a case to decide whether the execution of sentence should be carried out or should be altered into life imprisonment.
‘Besides the Supreme Court had held ‘speedy trial in criminal cases though may not be a fundamental right is implicit in the broad sweep and content of Article 21.” Speedy trial is part of one’s fundamental right to life and liberty. This principle is no less important for the disposal of a mercy petition, they contended.
The mercy petitions were not placed before the council of ministers but only before the home ministry, which rejected them, they claimed and said the President should not have acted on the advice of the home ministry.
They contended that they had submitted letters to the President about the pendency of their mercy petitions.
They said in Javed Ahmad vs State of Maharashtra (1985) an over two year delay in adjudication of the mercy petition was held sufficient to have the death penalty commuted to life.
A woman, four Baluchis and eight Kurds were among those executed The total number of those executed since the beginning of September amounts to 75 The Iranian regime hanged at least 27 prisoners in three days, September 27-29, 2016, in Gohardasht, Orumiyeh, Minab and Khorrambad prisons. Among the eight prisoners hanged together in Orumiyeh, there was a woman by the name of Molouk Noori. Seven other prisoners were Kurds from Orumiyeh. Seven prisoners were hanged in the Central Prison of Minab (southern Hormuzgan Province). They aged between 25 and 30, and four of them were Baluchis. In another criminal measure, eleven prisoners were hanged in Gohardasht Prison (northwest of Tehran). Two of them had been relocated to Gohardasht in a sudden nightly transfer from Khorin Prison of Varamin. The number of those executed since the beginning of September thus amounts to 75. The families of those executed in Orumiyeh staged a protest outside Darya Prison which led ...
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.
President Biden used his clemency authority Monday to commute the sentences of 37 of the 40 men on federal death row to life without parole, in one of the most significant moves taken against capital punishment in recent presidential history. Biden did not commute the sentences of three men who were involved in cases of terrorism or hate-fueled mass murder, including Robert Bowers , convicted for the 2018 mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue; Dylann Roof , convicted for the 2015 mass shooting at a Black church in Charleston, S.C.; and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev , convicted of the 2013 bombing at the Boston Marathon.
Many Were Child Brides Hanged for Murder of Abusive Husbands From Whom There Was No Protection December 18, 2024 — Amidst a huge surge in executions in the Islamic Republic— 862 so far in 2024, the highest per capita execution rate globally—the Iranian authorities are now increasingly including women in those it sends to the gallows. Since the start of 2024, Iran has executed at least 29 women. More executions of women may have taken place that are unknown.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump promised on Tuesday to “vigorously pursue” capital punishment after President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of most people on federal death row partly to stop Trump from pushing forward their executions. Trump criticized Biden’s decision on Monday to change the sentences of 37 of the 40 condemned people to life in prison without parole, arguing that it was senseless and insulted the families of their victims. Biden said converting their punishments to life imprisonment was consistent with the moratorium imposed on federal executions in cases other than terrorism and hate-motivated mass murder.
HOUSTON (AP) — The number of executions in the U.S. remained near historic lows in 2024 and was mostly carried out in a small group of states, including Alabama, which became the first state to use nitrogen gas as an execution method, according to an annual report on capital punishment. The report by the Death Penalty Information Center was released on Thursday, the same day that Oklahoma conducted the nation’s 25th and final execution of the year. Kevin Ray Underwood received a lethal injection Thursday morning for the killing of a 10-year-old girl that was part of a cannibalistic fantasy.
Chisako Kakehi, a woman sentenced to death for the murders of three elderly men using cyanide compounds, has died, local media reported Thursday. The 78-year-old death row inmate was convicted of murdering the men — with the intent of inheriting their assets — in Kyoto, Osaka, and Hyogo prefectures between 2012 and 2013. Among the victims was her 75-year-old husband, Isao. The other two were men with whom she had entered common-law relationships.
A court in Vietnam sentenced 27 people to death on Friday after finding them guilty of trafficking more than 600 kilos of narcotics including heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine, state media reported A court in Vietnam sentenced 27 people to death on Friday after finding them guilty of trafficking more than 600 kilos of narcotics including heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine, state media reported. Gang leader and notorious female crime boss Vu Hoang Anh, alias Oanh Ha, was among those condemned to death, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed 330 people this year, in what rights groups are calling the highest number in decades. According to the Reuters news agency, the latest number of executions carried out by Saudi authorities – based on announcements compiled by the human rights group Reprieve – has reached up to 330 people, in a significant increase from the 172 executed last year and the 196 executed in 2022.
Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 20, 2024: Mojtaba Jamshidian and Jebrael Naseri were executed for drug-related offences in Rasht Central Prison. According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Rasht (Lakan) Central Prison on 14 December. His identity has been established as Mojtaba Jamshidian from Khomein. He was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.
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