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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Iran | Inmates Executed in Esfarayen, Isfahan

Iran Human Rights (IHR); August 11, 2021: An unidentified man sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, was executed in Esfarayen.

According to the official ISNA News Agency, the Esfarayen Public and Revolutionary Prosecutor, Mr Nadernejad has reported the execution of a man in the city. The identity of the prisoner who was sentenced to qisas for murder has not been reported.

He was accused of killing a 31-year-old woman with the motive to steal her gold in March 2017. The report does not specify the exact date and location of the execution.

Esfarayen is a city located in the southeast of Northern Khorasan province and the capital of Esfarayen county.

According to Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 211 of the 267 people executed in 2020 were sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for "premeditated murder."

As there are no legal distinctions made between murder and manslaughter, whether voluntary or involuntary in Iran, those charged under the umbrella term of “premeditated murder” will receive the death penalty regardless of intent and the circumstances.

Mohammad Hassani-Kiazehi Executed in Isfahan


Iran Human Rights (IHR); August 10, 2021: Mohammad Hassani-Kiazehi, a Baluch man sentenced to death on drug-related charges, was executed in Isfahan Central Prison. At least 66 prisoners, including a woman, have been executed on drug-related charges in Iranian prisons in 2021.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a Baluch man was executed on drug-related charges in Isfahan Central Prison on the morning of August 8. His identity has been established as Mohammad Hassani-Kiazehi. More than one prisoner are believed to have been executed that day.

According to informed sources he was arrested around six years ago and sentenced to death on charges of “carrying 150 kilograms of drugs.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

According to Iran Human Rights’ Annual Report on the Death Penalty in Iran, at least 25 people were executed on drug-related charges in 2020. However, at least 66 people have so far been executed on the same charge in 2021.

On May 3, IHR published a report on the death penalty in the first four months of 2021 expressing concern at the significant increase in the number of drug-related executions and continues to warn of the continuation of this trend.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, August 11-10, 2021


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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

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