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As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

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President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.
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France urges Taiwan to hold debate on death penalty

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France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Paris, Dec. 25 (CNA) France has condemned the execution of six death row inmates in Taiwan last week and urged Taiwan to open a national debate on the future of capital punishment.

Through a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, the French government urged Taiwan to restore a moratorium on the death penalty.

"France, like its partners in the European Union, reaffirms its determined and consistent opposition to the death penalty, in all places and in all circumstances," the statement read.

On Dec. 21, Taiwan executed six death row inmates who were convicted of murdering eight people.

The executions were the first this year and brought to 15 the number of convicts put to death since April 2010, when Taiwan ended an informal 52-month moratorium on carrying out the death penalty.

The executions have drawn condemnation from the European Union and Amnesty International.

The government of Taiwan has explained that the executions were carried out in accordance with the country's laws, which still uphold capital punishment.

Public poll results reveal that nearly 80 percent of the people in Taiwan are against abolishing the death penalty.

Source: CNA, December 26, 2012
Location: Taïwan
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