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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 | Man Executed for Murder in Rajai Shahr Prison

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Iran Human Rights (IHR); September 27, 2021: Mostafa Shafiei who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder, has been executed in Rajai Shahr Prison.

According to Javan Online, a man was executed on murder charges in Rajai Shahr Prison on September 22. 

The report does not name him but states that he was charged with the murder of his friend on 9 July 2018.

His identity has been established as Mostafa Shafiei by Iran Human Rights. He was transferred to the gallows from Ward 7 of Rajai Shahr Prison.

Speaking about the incident in the Javan Online report, Mostafa had said: “Arshia and I were close friends. On the day of the incident, Arshia was going to fight Kamran, one of the local kids who he was in a conflict with. They hated each other and always had verbal arguments. I thought Kamran would kill Arshia in the fight, that’s why I decided to go with him and help him. But on the day, Kamran was invited to a party and didn’t turn up, so we both returned home.”

“We went to the roof of my house after and started drinking until we were not sober and started bickering. It escalated to the point that I unconsciously threw a knife at his direction and it hit him. I had no intentions of killing him, but Arshia fell to the ground bleeding and passed away,” he continued.

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 the intent and circumstances.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, September 28, 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
Location: Gohardasht, Karaj, Alborz Province, Iran
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