The House passed legislation on Thursday that would make the murder of a law enforcement officer punishable by death.Approved by a 271-143 vote, the measure expands the aggravating factors when a jury considers a death sentence in federal cases.48 Democrats voted with all but 4 Republicans in favor of the legislation, which
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What it was like waiting for death with one of the four men executed by the state in April.Just before his execution in Arkansas on April 24, Jack Jones ate a final meal of fried chicken, potato logs with tarter sauce, beef jerky bites, three candy bars, a chocolate milkshake, and
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Even though Oklahoma's once-busy death chamber has been quiet for more than 2 years, the state Legislature continues to prepare for the return of executions.A bill allowing Oklahoma Department of Corrections staff to handle drugs, like those involved in lethal injections, sailed through the19
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Muhammad Ridzuan Md AliSINGAPORE - Singaporean drug trafficker Muhammad Ridzuan Md Ali, 31, was executed at Changi Prison on Friday (May 19), having exhausted all avenues of appeal following his conviction in 2013.Ridzuan had been found guilty in the High Court of trafficking in 72.50 grams of
Pakistan Wednesday hanged 4 "hardcore" terrorists convicted of "heinous" terrorism-related offences by controversial military courts in the restive northwestern province, taking the number to over 160 since the Peshawar terror attack in 2014.The terrorists belonging to a banned outfit were
Texas' death houseHOUSTON (AP) — The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday lifted a reprieve it gave a Nicaraguan man a day before he was to be executed two years ago for killing a Houston high school teacher during a 1997 robbery.The state's highest criminal appeals court had
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California's death rowA judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law that gives prison authorities responsibility for establishing procedures for lethal injection executions.After voters passed a plan in November intended to speed up executions, the ACLU of17
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Ian Brady in custodyApart from their sheer horror, the Moors murders stayed in the public imagination because they marked the end of capital punishmentIan Brady retained his dark grip on the British imagination right to the very end. The 1965 police photograph of the Moors murderer stared out from17
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The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) urges the government of Singapore to halt the execution of Mr Muhammad Ridzuan bin Mohd Ali, 31, now said to be scheduled on 19 May 2017.We call on the President of the Republic of Singapore Tony Tan Keng Yam to show mercy and grant Ridzuan16
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Firing squad execution in Somalia (file photo)In Somalia, a country long troubled by deadly violence, there's a disturbing new trend: an increase in summary executions.Somali military courts and the militant group al-Shabab have each executed about a dozen people so far in 2017, all
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J.W. Ledford Jr.The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied clemency for J.W. Ledford Jr., who will be executed Tuesday for the January 1992 murder of 73-year-old Dr. Harry Buchanan Johnston Jr. in Murray County.The decision by the five-member parole board "came after an exhaustive review15
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The number of countries criminalising consensual, private same-sex sexual activity between adults has decreased to 72, while the variety of law relevant to sexual orientation continues to expand steadily.On May 15, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)
Donald Trump meets with Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al SaudRIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson had some advice on Saturday for Iran’s newly re-elected president. The Trump administration, he said, hopes Tehran
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Australia continues to assist in international prosecutions where the death penalty is an option, while underpinning its bid for a seat on the United Nation's Human Rights Council with a call to abolish capital punishment worldwide.Newly released figures, obtained through freedom of information19
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Joshua FrenchJoshua French, a dual British and Norwegian national who has spent eight years on death row in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been released from prison on humanitarian grounds and is safely returned to Norway.Joshua French and his friend Tjostolv Moland were twice18
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Muhammad Ridzuan bin Md AliAmnesty International today called on the Singapore authorities to halt the execution of a Singaporean man scheduled for Friday 19 May 2017 and to immediately re-establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty.Muhammad Ridzuan Bin Md17
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BATON ROUGE — An effort to abolish the death penalty in Louisiana died in a House committee Wednesday after one of the bill's original co-sponsors switched his vote.The bill's failure in the House Criminal Justice Committee signaled that a duplicate measure in the Senate by Sen. Dan Claitor17
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No execution date set for Mexican man convicted of killing family found buriedThe U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to review an appeal from a Mexican citizen sentenced to death for the sledgehammer killings of his wife and 2 children, who were found buried under the bathroom floor in their17
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LONDON, May 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - African countries have some of the most prohibitive laws against homosexuality in the world - same-sex relationships are a crime in many of them and can lead to imprisonment or the death penalty.On the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia
The Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday approved a bill that would shorten the appeals process for those on death row.The chamber voted 74 to 26 for the measure, long a priority of the Alabama attorney general’s office. The House amended the bill on the floor, which will send the measure back16
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An aspect that requires discussion is the meaning of “rarest of rare” that is used to identify the category of offenders who may be sentenced to death.Over the last few days, the Supreme Court has confirmed death sentences twice, and in close succession. On May 3, the Court rejected the review16
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Despite the shocking spectacle of assembly-line executions in Arkansas earlier this year, the use of the death penalty is in decline. Arkansas’s willingness to execute four men in eight days, including two in a single night, demonstrates the extreme lengths to which proponents of capital punishment15
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The suspected crematory at the Sednaya Prison complex outside Damascus.Washington (CNN) -- The US said Monday it believes the Syrian government has built a large crematorium near the notorious Saydnaya Military Prison in an effort to hide mass atrocities carried out there,
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Former Jakarta Governor 'Ahok': Sentenced to two years for blasphemyLegal experts are showing differences of opinion over the need to revoke the blasphemy articles in Indonesia’s penal code in a debate that has erupted after non-active Jakarta governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama
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Alabama's death chamberBefore Ronald Bert Smith’s corpse grew cold – following his patently botched execution by lethal injection on December 8, 2016 – authorities in Alabama launched a campaign of obfuscation and misinformation about what happened to him.It began when Prison Commissioner Jeff19
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Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka have effectively abolished capital punishment. The rest of South Asia hasn’t.“Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment.” So wrote English author JRR Tolkein
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Moyo’s art hanging on the walls at “Buddhas On Death Row.”Despite the 5,000 miles between them, death row inmate “Moyo” and pen pal Maria Jain have come together to showcase his series of Buddha portraits in the exhibition “Buddhas on Death
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Tommy ArthurThe Alabama Department of Corrections doesn't have to provide documents to lawyers for Alabama death row inmate Tommy Arthur related to the executions of 2 other inmates last year, a judge has ruled.Arthur's attorneys in March filed a request for a writ of mandamus asking a judge order17
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Koh Tao Island has long been an ideal destination for backpackers, avid divers and more increasingly Myanmar migrant workers. Located some 400km away from Bangkok, the small island has earned a reputation of being the best spot for viewing sea turtles, whale sharks and other wildlife.But in the17
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Two men accused of having gay sex sit on the defendants' chairs duringtheir trial at Shariah court in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, May 10, 2017.A sharia court Wednesday sentenced two men to
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J. W. Ledford Jr.JACKSON, Ga. — Georgia carried out its first execution of the year early on Wednesday, putting to death a man convicted of killing a 73-year-old neighbor in 1992.J.W. Ledford Jr., 45, was pronounced dead at 1:17 a.m. at the state prison in
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THE tragic life of three men who spent a combined 113 years in solitary confinement has been revealed in a new documentary — including the terrible twist when one of them was released.The “Angola 3” — Robert King, Herman Wallace, and Albert Woodfox — were locked up at the Louisiana State16
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Catholic Church leaders in Indonesia have deplored the nation’s rejection of the abolition of the death penalty in the southeast Asian nation.Abolishing the death penalty was one of the recommendations put to Indonesia by member states at the 27th session of the U.N. Universal Period Review in15
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The number of countries criminalising consensual, private same-sex sexual activity between adults has decreased to 72, while the variety of law relevant to sexual orientation continues to expand steadily.On May 15, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA)