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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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Man’s hand cut off for theft on Saudi court orders

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A Yemeni man had his hand cut off by Saudi police after he was convicted by a local court of carrying out many thefts in the conservative Muslim Gulf country.

The official Saudi press agency said Ahmed Mohammed Afandi was found guilty by a criminal court in the southern province of Jazan near the border with Yemen.

It said the sentenced by an initial court was upheld by the supreme court and ratified by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, adding that his right hand was cut off at the wrist.

Saudi Arabia strictly is one the most conservative Moslem nations and strictly enforces Sharia (Islamic law), under which convicted thieves have their right hand cut off by the sword in certain cases.

Source: Emirates 24/7, December 18, 2013
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