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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 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

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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: Khorramabad, Lorestan Province, Iran
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