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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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Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year, highest number in decades

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Saudi Arabia has reportedly executed 330 people this year, in what rights groups are calling the highest number in decades.

According to the Reuters news agency, the latest number of executions carried out by Saudi authorities – based on announcements compiled by the human rights group Reprieve – has reached up to 330 people, in a significant increase from the 172 executed last year and the 196 executed in 2022.

This year’s toll reportedly includes over 100 foreign nationals from the Middle East, Africa and Asia, and reveals that more than 150 people were notably executed for non-lethal crimes, primarily related to alleged drug smuggling activities and accusations of non-lethal terrorism.

Rights groups insist that executions for such non-lethal crimes directly violate international law, and also stress that the accusations of those activities are often levied against people by authorities in an effort to justify their executions and increase repression, particularly against those who speak out against the government.

The news agency cited a relative of one foreign national arrested on drug charges, who said he was arrested while fishing near the coast and has had no lawyer or representative in the kingdom. 

A family member of another defendant also reported that they had not received any evidence proving the allegations against him, despite his criminal court sessions stretching for over three years.

Source: middleeastmonitor.com, Staff, December 27, 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: Saudi Arabia
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