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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 five for drug trafficking

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Tehran: Iran hanged five convicted drug traffickers in a prison in the northern city of Shahrud on Monday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The report did not give the identities or ages of the people sent to gallows but mentioned that they were from different Iranian cities.

The hangings bring to 277 the number of people put to death in Iran this year, according to an AFP tally based on media and official reports.

Human Rights Watch counted 388 executions in Iran in 2010.

Amnesty International put the figure at 252, ranking the Islamic republic second only to China in the number of people put to death last year.

Iran says the death penalty is essential to maintain law and order, and that it is applied only after exhaustive judicial proceedings.

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

Source: Agence France-Presse, December 26, 2011
Location: Shāhrūd, Iran
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