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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.

Iran | Kurdish Activist Khosrow Besharat Executed after Sham Trial

The execution of Khosrow Besharat at dawn today in Iran's Qezel Hesar Prison in Karaj marks a tragic and egregious act of injustice. 

Besharat, who endured more than 14 years of imprisonment and was subjected to brutal torture to extract a coerced “confession,” has become yet another victim of the Iranian regime's systematic repression of dissent.

This latest execution highlights the alarming surge in political executions in Iran, as the state seeks to crush any form of opposition. 

The execution occurred amidst ongoing mass hunger strikes in Qezel Hesar Prison protesting these unlawful executions, underscoring the dire human rights abuses taking place.

Activists and members of minority communities in Iran, like Besharat, face especially harsh state retribution. They are routinely sentenced to long prison terms after sham trials and are disproportionately sentenced to death. This pattern of injustice must not be ignored.

The international community must act decisively to hold the Iranian authorities accountable. 

The perpetrators of these crimes—from the interrogators who torture unlawfully detained individuals to the judges who convict them in sham trials—must face justice. 

Political executions and the grotesque abuses of human rights within Iran cannot be tolerated. It is imperative that global leaders and human rights organizations condemn these actions unequivocally and push for urgent action to protect the rights and lives of all individuals in Iran.

Source: iranhumanrights.org, Staff, May 15, 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



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