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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.

Iran Executes Two More Prisoners Amid Spike in Death Penalty

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The Islamic Republic's authorities have carried out the executions of two prisoners amid a significant rise in death penalties.

The death sentence of Meysam Hossein-Khani, a 22-year-old resident of Kuhdasht, was carried out in Khorramabad Central Prison (Parsilon Prison) on Wednesday. 

He had been sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary on charges of alleged "premeditated murder." 

He was arrested three years ago and has been awaiting execution since his conviction, according to the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights. 

Meanwhile, the death sentence of Sirvan Abubakri, 30, a Kurdish prisoner from Sardasht, was carried out in Mahabad Central Prison on Thursday. 

Abubakri had also been sentenced to death by the Iranian judiciary on charges of alleged "premeditated murder."

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 rise in death penalties for drug-related offenses compared to 2022, when 255 people were executed. 

The latest numbers also show a staggering 264 percent increase compared to 2021, when 132 individuals faced execution on similar charges.

Source: Iran Wire, Staff, August 30, 2024

_____________________________________________________________________








"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: Khorramabad, Lorestan Province, Iran
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