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Women Being Sent to the Gallows in Alarming Numbers in Iran

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Many Were Child Brides Hanged for Murder of Abusive Husbands From Whom There Was No Protection  December 18, 2024 — Amidst a huge surge in executions in the Islamic Republic— 862 so far in 2024, the highest per capita execution rate globally—the Iranian authorities are now increasingly including women in those it sends to the gallows. Since the start of 2024, Iran has executed at least 29 women. More executions of women may have taken place that are unknown.
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A Prolonged Execution in Arizona Leads to a Temporary Halt

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Joseph Wood
PHOENIX — The Arizona attorney general on Thursday called a temporary halt to executions in the state, a day after the convicted killer Joseph R. Wood III died one hour and 57 minutes after his execution began. Death penalty experts said it was one of the longest times it has taken in the United States for drugs to kill a condemned man.

But Charles L. Ryan, the director of the state’s Department of Corrections rejected the notion that the execution was botched, despite the fact that the procedure of death by lethal injection usually takes about 15 minutes. He said in a statement that an autopsy by the Pima County medical examiner, concluded on Thursday, found that the intravenous lines were “perfectly placed,” “the catheters in each arm were completely within the veins” and “there was no leakage of any kind.”

“I am committed to a thorough, transparent and comprehensive review process,” Mr. Ryan said.

The execution of Mr. Wood was, by all accounts, an unusual one: Once a vein had been tapped, it took one hour and 52 minutes for the drugs pumped into him to do their work; the process dragged on long enough for Mr. Wood’s lawyers to file an emergency appeal to a Federal District Court to stop the execution.


Source: The New York Times, Fernanda Santos, John Scwartz, July 24, 2014
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