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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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Family to raise Dh4.58m to atone accident death in Saudi Arabia

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Zapanta needs blood money by Wednesday to be spared death penalty.

Manila: A Filipino family will raise P55 million (Dh4.58 million) to serve as blood money to atone for the killing of a Sudanese national in Saudi Arabia in 2009, a local paper said.

“I have prepared a letter to [Saudi Arabia’s] King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to ask him to intercede in the case of Joselito Lidasan Zapanta whose family is raising the blood money which was demanded by the family of the victim, Salah Imam Ibrahim,” Vice President Binay told the Philippine Star.

Zapanta, who was convicted for the murder of a Sudanese national and jailed in 2009, needs the blood money by November 14 to be spared from execution.

A delay in the implementation of Zapanta’s execution will allow his family to raise the blood money, Binay said, who quoted his letter as saying, “I join President Aquino in seeking your intercession in the deferment of the qisas sentence imposed on Zapanta.”

The death sentence will be carried out if Zapanta’s family fail to raise the blood money, said Binay, adding, “Under Saudi Arabia’s law, in this kind of crime, the family’s decision prevails.”

A representative from Manila’s foreign affairs department will personally hand over the letter to the king in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, said Binay.

At the same time, the Philippine government has been extending financial and legal assistance to Zapanta since 2009, said Binay.

About nine million overseas Filipino workers (OFws) are based worldwide. The number represents 10 per cent of Philippine population.

The OFWs sent $20 billion to their relatives in the Philippines in 2011.

Some OFWs are languishing in jails due to crimes such as murder and drug trafficking.

Source: GulfNews, November 13, 2012
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