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U.S. | 'I comfort death row inmates in their final moments - the execution room is like a house of horrors'

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Reverend Jeff Hood, 40, wants to help condemned inmates 'feel human again' and vows to continue his efforts to befriend murderers in spite of death threats against his family A reverend who has made it his mission to comfort death row inmates in their final days has revealed the '"moral torture" his endeavor entails. Reverend Dr. Jeff Hood, 40, lives with his wife and five children in Little Rock, Arkansas. But away from his normal home life, he can suddenly find himself holding the shoulder of a murderer inside an execution chamber, moments away from the end of their life. 

Saudi Arabia beheads two murderers

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The executions bring to nine the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia so far this year

Riyadh: Saudi Arabia beheaded two of its nationals on Wednesday after they were sentenced to death for separate murders, the interior ministry announced.

Marwan Al Balawi was convicted of stabbing to death another Saudi, Saif Al Wabsi, during a dispute in Madinah in the northwest, said a statement published by the official SPA news agency.

SPA also reported that authorities have beheaded Hussain Al Yami for having shot dead Hamad Al Jaafar in the southwestern district of Najran.

The executions bring to nine the number of people beheaded in Saudi Arabia so far this year.

In 2012, the ultra-conservative kingdom beheaded 76 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. The US-based Human Rights Watch put the number at 69.

Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under Saudi Arabia’s strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.

Source: Agence France-Presse, January 31, 2013
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