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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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Report: Saudi Arabia seeks swap for royals on Iraqi death row

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Baghdad - Efforts to implement a Saudi-Iraqi prisoner exchange have taken on extra urgency after it became known that three people facing the death penalty in Iraq are members of the Saudi royal family.

Saudi Arabia has been pushing for the exchange of the six Saudi nationals, reported an Iraqi state-run newspaper on Monday.

Iraqi Lawmaker Kamila al-Moussawi told the al-Sabah newspaper that three of the six Saudi nationals currently on death row are members of the royal family.

Saudi Arabia's royalty, the Al Saud family, is composed of thousands of members, though power rests with descendants of Saudi Arabia's founder, King Abdul-Aziz.

'Saudi Arabia seeks a deal with the Iraqi government to exchange them with convicted Iraqis inside the kingdom,' said al-Moussawi, of the National Alliance, led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Moussawi's announcement came a few days after Saudi newspaper Al Eqtisadiya reported that the proposed deal would cover 113 Saudi prisoners in Iraq, including six on death row, and 138 Iraqi prisoners in Saudi Arabia, of whom 11 are facing execution.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur, January 30, 2012

Related article:
Death Penalty News: Saudi Arabia, Iraq not to execute each other's ...
Jan 28, 2012
Saudi Arabia, Iraq not to execute each other's prisoners. JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia and Iraq have agreed in principle to put on hold execution of prisoners on death row in the two countries for at least two months until a final ...
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Location: Baghdad, Iraq
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