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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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India's top court upholds death penalty for Mumbai attacks gunman

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Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in attacks that lasted nearly three days and killed 166 people, had appealed claiming he had not been given a fair trial.

New Delhi: India's Supreme Court on Wednesday confirmed the death sentence handed down to Mohammad Kasab, the lone surviving gunman from the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed.

Pakistan-born Kasab, one of 10 gunmen who laid siege to Mumbai in attacks that lasted nearly three days, had appealed against the sentence and claimed he had not been received a fair trial.

"We are left with no option but to award death penalty," the two judges said in a court order. "The primary and foremost offence committed by Kasab is waging war against the government of India."

The judges had opened the appeal by Kasab, who is being held in a maximum-security prison in Mumbai, in January.

He was found guilty in a Mumbai court on charges, including waging war against India, murder and terrorist acts, and was handed the death penalty in May 2010.

After losing his Supreme Court petition, Kasab is expected to lodge a final appeal for clemency with the president.

Source: AFP, August 29, 2012
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