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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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Iran Executes Three Amid Sharp Rise in Death Sentences

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The Islamic Republic of Iran has executed three more prisoners amid a significant rise in death penalties in the country.

According to a report by the Haalvsh human rights organization, inmates convicted of drug-related crimes were executed in Taybad Prison, located in Razavi Khorasan province. 

Among them were Esmaeil Esmaeil-Zadeh, 37, and Mohammad-Amin Mohammad-Pour, 38, both members of the Sunni community. 

The third executed individual was an Afghan national whose identity remains undisclosed.

These individuals received their death sentences from the Revolutionary Court in Taybad four years ago. 

No official sources or domestic media outlets in the country have covered these executions.

In the past ten days, Iran has witnessed a surge in the execution of prisoners. However, these coincided with the conflict with Israel, diverting international attention away from the executions.

According to a report by Amnesty International, Iran has reached its highest level of death sentence execution in the last eight years, with the judiciary of the Islamic Republic executing 853 people in 2023 alone.

The report indicates that 481 executions, more than half of the total, were related to drug crimes. 

This marks an 89 percent increase in the death penalty compared to 2022 when 255 people were executed for drug-related offenses. 

The latest numbers also show a staggering 264 percent increase compared to 2021, when 132 individuals faced execution for similar charges.

Source: Iran Wire, Staff, April 24, 2024

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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: Iran
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