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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 Youth for Crime Committed at 16

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The Islamic Republic's authorities have executed a young man for an alleged murder he committed at the age of 16. 

On May 18, 2024, 20-year-old Ramin Sa'adat was executed at Miandoab Prison for a murder committed when he was 16 years and five months old, according to Kurdpa news agency. 

Sa'adat was arrested after a fatal altercation. 

He maintained throughout his trial that he had not delivered the deadly blows.

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 death penalties compared to 2022 when 255 people were executed for drug-related offenses, and a staggering 264 percent increase compared to 2021 when 132 individuals faced execution for similar charges.

Source: Iran Wire, Staff, May 23, 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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