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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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500th Recorded Execution in Iran in 2023

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); September 13, 2023: Abdolnaser Ghaljayi, a Baluch man executed for drug-related charges in Birjand Central Prison is the 500th recorded execution in Iran in 2023.

According to Hal Vash, a Baluch man was executed in Birjand Central Prison in South Khorsasan on 10 September. His identity has been reported as 48-year-old Abdolnaser Ghaljayi from Zahedan.

He was arrested for drug-related charges in Birjand around three years ago sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court.

Two other Baluch men named Saeed and Mohsen Sanjarani were previously reported to have been executed at the prison that day.

At the time of writing, none of their executions have been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Ethnic minorities, the Baluch in particular, are grossly overrepresented in execution numbers in Iran. In 2022, at least 174 Baluch minorities including 3 women, were executed in 22 prisons across Iran, making up 30% of overall executions. This is while they represent just 2-6% of Iran’s population. Furthermore, in the first six months of 2023, 20% of the at least 354 executions were Baluch people.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year for the past three years. At least 206 people were executed for drug-related charges in the first six months of 2023, a 126% rise compared to the same period in 2022 when 91 were executed. 40 people were executed in the same period in 2021.

The number of drug executions dramatically dropped in 2018 following a 2017 Amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Laws. Consequently, drug executions ranged between 24-30 per annum between 2018-2020. The Amendment was reversed in practice in 2021 when executions increased ten-fold to 126 in 2021 and doubled again in 2022 with 256 drug-related executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, September 13, 2023


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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
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