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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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Saudi court sentences two to death for killing army colonel

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Public execution in Saudi Arabia (file photo)
Public execution in Saudi Arabia (file photo)
Dubai: A Saudi court sentenced two men it said were Al Qaida followers to death on charges of decapitating a Saudi intelligence service colonel in 2007, local media reported on Tuesday.

The men attacked Colonel Nasser Al Othman at his farm near the city of Buraidah in northern Saudi Arabia, tied him up and severed his head because they viewed him as an apostate, online news website sabq.org said, citing the court ruling.

Between 2003 and 2006, Al Qaida carried out a campaign of attacks in the kingdom against Western and Saudi targets that killed hundreds of people.

Since stamping out the insurgency, Saudi Arabia has convicted and sentenced hundreds of people to prison or death for militancy. It executed dozens on January 2.

In Tuesday’s verdict, a third man was sentenced to 30 years in jail for attempting to kill the commander of emergency forces in Saudi Arabia’s northern Qassim region, Dubai-based Al Arabiya television channel said.

The court ruling, published by Al Arabiya on its website, did not identify the three convicted men.

A Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed the court verdict was an initial ruling which was subject to levels of appeal before it can be implemented.

Death sentences must be signed by the king before they are carried out.

Saudi Arabia says its justice system is fair and independent.

Since 2014 Daesh, like Al Qaida, has carried out attacks in the kingdom that have killed dozens and led to hundreds of arrests.

Source: Reuters, July 26, 2016

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed, but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." - Oscar Wilde

Location: Saudi Arabia
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