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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 Executes Eight for Drug Offenses as Death Sentences Rise

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The Islamic Republic has executed eight more prisoners over the past few days amid a significant spike in death penalties.

On April 14, 2024, Hamedan Prison executed Arsalan Hashemi, a man convicted of drug offenses, according to human rights group HRANA.

Hashemi had been sentenced to death in 2021. 

There have been no reports on the execution by Iranian authorities or domestic media outlets.

Five people convicted of drug-related offenses were also executed at Vakilabad Prison in Mashhad on April 15, according to Haalvsh human rights news agency. 

On April 11, Zanjan Prison in Iran executed Esmaeil Hosniani, 29, and his wife, Marjan Hajizadeh, 19, according to the Iran Human Rights Organization. 

The couple was sentenced to death three years ago for drug-related offenses.

In recent weeks, the sharp rise in executions in the country sparked passionate calls from Iranian civil society to abolish the death penalty, with the hashtag #NoToExecution becoming increasingly popular among social media users.

According to the Iran Human Rights Organization's report, the Islamic Republic executed approximately 834 individuals last year.

Source: iranwire.com, Staff, April 16, 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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