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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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Iran: Five Men Executed at One Prison in One Day

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Public execution Iran
Iran Human Rights (IHR); June 26, 2019: Five men were hanged at the Iranian city of Karaj’s Rajai-Shahr prison this morning.

According to IHR sources, on the early morning of Wednesday, June 26, five prisoners were executed at Rajai-Shahr prison. 

Most of them were sentenced to death for murder charges. 

IHR could identify three of the executed prisoners as Ghorban Soleimani, Hanif Motaharinejad and Majid Hassanzadeh. 

Two others have not been identified by IHR sources yet. However, according to IHR sources, one of the latter two was transferred from Ghelezhesar prison to Rajai-Shahr prison for the execution. 

In sum, 12 Prisoners were transferred to the solitary confinement of Rajai-Shahr prison for execution lately. 

Five were executed and seven of them could win the plaintiffs’ consent or more time to do so. 

In Iran, the life of a person who is convicted to death on murder charges is in the hands of the victim’s family.

According to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code (IPC) murder is punishable by qisas which means “retribution in kind” or retaliation. 

In this way, the State effectively puts the responsibility of the death sentence for murder on the shoulders of the victim’s family. 

In qisas cases, the plaintiff has the possibility to forgive or demand diya (blood money). 

The above-mentioned executions are not announced by Iranian authorities or media so far. 

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, June 26, 2019


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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: Karaj, Alborz Province, Iran
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