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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 | 4 Inmates Executed in Tabriz

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Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); August 28, 2024: Shapour Hosseini, an Iraqi national named Irfan Abdolazizi and two Afghan nationals only identified as Mohebollah and Moshref, were executed for drug-related and murder charges in Tabriz Central Prison.

According to information obtained by Iran Human Rights, four men were executed in Tabriz Central Prison on 26 August. Three of the men who were death row for drug-related charges have been identified as Shapour Hosseini from Tabriz, a 32-year-old Afghan national Mohebollah (surname unknown) and 27-year-old Moshref, whose surname also has not been established at the time of writing.

The fourth prisoner was an Iraqi national named Irfan Abdolazizi from Karkouk who was sentenced to qisas (retribution-in-kind) for murder.

An informed source previously told IHRNGO: “Shapour Hosseini was arrested for drug-related charges two years ago. Mohebollah and Moshref are from Afghanistan and were arrested for carrying weapons and drugs in the same case. Irfan Abdolaziz was arrested for the murder of a security guard in a cement factory three years ago.”

At the time of writing, their executions have not been reported by domestic media or officials in Iran.

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. In the first six months of 2024, at least 147 people were executed for the charges.

Source: Iran Human Rights, Staff, August 28, 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: Tabriz, East Azerbaijan Province, Iran
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