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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)

Suriname: Death penalty to be revoked

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Suriname, which has announced plans to remove the death penalty from its criminal books, says it will increase the maximum jail term for life sentences from 20 to 30 years.

Justice and Police Minister Edward Belfort said in addition to increasing the jail term for life sentences usually reserved for heinous crimes, the government is also moving to increase the jail term for criminals convicted of committing lesser crimes from 15 to 20 years.

Belfort said that the amendments are related to a draft modification of the Criminal Code that will soon be sent to the National Assembly for consideration.

The revised code will no longer feature the death penalty that Belfort described as an outdated piece of legislation that is irreversible once it is carried out. He also said that in his opinion it is not the government's prerogative to decide who lives or dies.

The justice minister has been very vocal about scrapping the capital punishment, saying in March that "countries that apply it would be expected to be the safest countries in the world, yet still have many murders committed on a daily basis".

Source: Jamaica Gleaner, May 21, 2014
Location: Suriname
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Missouri | Man Facing Execution Next Month Is Hospitalized With Heart Problem

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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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