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Japan | Hakamada found religion, but then felt under attack by ‘the devil’

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Editor's note: This is the last in a four-part series on letters that Iwao Hakamada wrote while on death row. About a decade after cursing God, Iwao Hakamada was baptized Catholic at the Tokyo Detention House on Dec. 24, 1984. “Since I have been given the Christian name Paul, I am keenly feeling that I should be aware of the greatness of Paul.” (June 1985)

Three Hanged in Iran

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Iran Human Rights, January 12: Three prisoners were hanged in two different Iranian prisons, reported the Iranian state media.

According to the official Iranian news agency IRNA, a 45 year old prisoner was hanged in the prison of Yasouj (western Iran). The prisoner who was not identified by name was from Zabol (Sistan-Baluchistan Province) and convicted of trafficking 60 kilograms of crack, said the report.

According to Tasnimnews two prisoners convicted of murder were hanged in the prison of Sari (northern Iran) Sunday January 11.

One of the prisoners identified as “H. R.” (38 year old) was convicted of murdering a man identified as “R. S.”. The other prisoner identified as “M. N.” (41 year old) was convicted of murdering five others under a “constructed” traffic accident.

However, Bloghnews reported that the prisoner was 35 year old and convicted of murder for killing four people under a traffic accident 10 years ago.

Source: Iran Human Rights, January 12, 2014
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20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

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The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ
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