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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. 

Indonesia Top Court Rejects Bali Death-Row Briton Lindsay Sandiford’s Appeal

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Lindsay Sandiford
Indonesia’s top court on Thursday rejected an appeal by a British grandmother sentenced to death for trafficking drugs into the resort island of Bali, a judge said.

A three-judge panel at the Supreme Court in Jakarta unanimously rejected the appeal of Lindsay Sandiford, said the panel’s chief judge Artidjo Alkostar.

“Her appeal has been rejected,” he said in a text message after the closed hearing.

“The decision is unanimous,” he said, adding there was “no dissenting opinion”.

He said the judges agreed with the decision taken by the Denpasar District Court in Bali, which sentenced her to death, and the island’s high court, which rejected her first appeal.

Sandiford was sentenced to death in January after cocaine with an estimated street value of $2.4 million was found in her suitcase as she arrived on a flight from Bangkok in May last year, a shock verdict after prosecutors recommended 15 years imprisonment.

Police said she was at the center of a drugs-importing ring involving three other Britons. The 57-year-old said she was forced to transport the drugs to protect her children, whose safety was at stake.

Source: Agence France-Presse, August 29, 2013
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