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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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ISIS militants stone to death 2 teenage girls over alleged adultery

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Reading out a death sentence in Raqqa, Syria on Feb. 23, 2016
IS militant reading out a death sentence in Raqqa, Syria, on Feb. 23, 2016
Two teenage girls accused of committing adultery have been stoned to death by Islamic State militants in Syria. 

Hasna, 17, and Madiha, 16, died after the assault in Deir ez-Zor city, eastern Syria.

The 2 men they were with, identified by the Sharia Court as Abu Zubair al-Idlbi and Maher Hameed, escaped with 50 lashes in a public flogging.

The Islamic State-led Sharia Court released a statement claiming the girls were seized in a house "with 2 strangers" - an act strictly forbidden under Islamic State's twisted interpretation of Islam. 

"The victims were accused of committing adultery with 2 older men, identified by the Sharia Court as Abu Zubair al-Idlbi and Maher Hameed," the source reported.

Local media activist Ahmed Ramadan told ARA News: "The execution took place in the Hamidiya district of Deir ez-Zor on Tuesday afternoon, where hundreds of people gathered to witness the stoning of the 2 young girls. The decision of the Sharia Court raised the anger of Deir ez-Zor's residents, who considered it unfair to kill the two girls by stoning and merely flog the men and set them free."

A fortnight ago, 4 women were raped by Islamic State fighters and then stoned to death after being accused of "committing adultery." 

The victims were arrested even though Islamic State militants were said to have caught them being abused during a raid in the city of Mosul. 

They were brought before a Sharia court that ordered them to be publicly executed without giving any details about their alleged abusers.

Source: Business Insider, Feb. 27, 2016

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