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As clock ticks toward another Trump presidency, federal death row prisoners appeal for clemency

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President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office is putting a spotlight on the U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, which houses federal death row. In Bloomington, a small community of death row spiritual advisors is struggling to support the prisoners to whom they minister.  Ross Martinie Eiler is a Mennonite, Episcopal lay minister and member of the Catholic Worker movement, which assists the homeless. And for the past three years, he’s served as a spiritual advisor for a man on federal death row.
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Iran | Death-Row Prisoner Who Was Freed On Bail Executed

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2 death-row prisoners were hanged on February 26 at Karaj city’s Rajai-Shahr prison, near Tehran.

According to Iran Human Rights (IHR) sources, death-row prisoners Mohammmadreza Rafati (65) and Mohammad Tayyebi were executed at Karaj city’s Rajai-Shahr prison on February 26, 2020.

"Mohammadreza Rafati was arrested 22 years ago for murder and spent 20 years in jail. He was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) but the plaintiff refused to be present for the execution for 2 decades. Therefore, according to the Iranian Islamic Penal Code, Mohammadreza was freed on bail.  However, recently the plaintiff saw him on the streets, shouted at him and police arrested Mohammadreza. In a rare move, they have executed him 10 days after the recent arrest,” a well-informed source told IHR.

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).

However, if the plaintiff refuses to execute the defendant for a long time, the state can set the prisoner free on bail.

In 2019, most of the executions in Iran were carried out for murder charges.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, March 12, 2020


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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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