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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 | Man Hanged 16 Years after Father's Execution

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); April 20, 2024: Fariborz Dadgar, a man on death row for drug-related charges, was executed in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison. His father was executed for the same charges at the prison 16 years ago.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, a man was executed in Ahvaz Sepidar Prison on 18 April. His identity has been established as 36-year-old Fariborz Dadgar from Mahshahr who was sentenced to death for drug-related charges by the Revolutionary Court.

An informed source told Iran Human Rights: “Fariborz Dadgar was arrested for carrying 1.8 kilograms of methamphetamine (shisheh). He was a tiler prior to arrest and had one child. Fariborz’s father was executed for drug charges at the prison in 2008.”

At the time of writing, his execution has not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

Ehsan Dehghanipour who was executed in Khorramabad on 29 August 2023, was also the second generation to be executed for drug-related charges. His father was executed for the charges ten years prior to his son.

Drug-related executions have continuously risen every year since 2021. According to IHRNGO’s 2023 Annual Report on the Death Penalty, at least 471 people were executed for drug-related charges, an 84% increase compared to 2022 (256) and about 18 times the average of drug-related executions in 2018-2020.

On 10 April 2024, 80+ Iranian and international organisations and groups called for joint action to stop drug-related executions, urging UNODC to make “any cooperation with the Islamic Republic contingent on a complete halt on drug-related executions.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, April 20, 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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