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U.S. | I'm a Death Row Pastor. They're Just Ordinary Folks

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In the early 1970s I was a North Carolinian, white boy from the South attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and working in East Harlem as part of a program. In my senior year, I visited men at the Bronx House of Detention. I had never been in a prison or jail, but people in East Harlem were dealing with these places and the police all the time. This experience truly turned my life around.

Iran | Man Executed for Murder in Zahedan

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); March 14, 2022: Hafizollah Rakhshani, a Baluch man sentenced to qisas for murder, was executed in Zahedan Central Prison.

According to Hal Vash, a Baluch man was executed in Zahedan Central Prison on the morning of March 13. 

His identity has been reported as 30-year-old Hafizollah Rakhshani who was a Shir Abad resident in Zahedan and had been sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

He was arrested for the charges in 2014 and had been behind bars since.

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, 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 and no grading, 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.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, March 14, 2022


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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: Zahedan, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Iran
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