Indonesia tightens security ahead of Bali bombers' execution
Reuters Nov 4, 08 3:09 CST
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Indonesian police are investigating a text-messaged threat to blow up the American and Australian embassies in Jakarta if convicted Bali bombers are executed, Reuters reports. Three Islamic militants convicted of playing a role in Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people six years ago have exhausted their avenues of appeal and are expected to be executed by a firing squad within days.
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Times (UK) Nov 1, 08 11:08 CDT
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Saddam Hussein’s body was mutilated after his execution, says a guard present at his internment. “There were six stab wounds on his body,” two of them to his back, the Iraqi told the London Times . The guard said 300 people witnessed the desecrated body, but Iraqi officials and the leader of Saddam’s tribe deny that he was mutilated after death. A video shows him being taunted by enemies just before his hanging.
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Relationship between judge and prosecutor not reason for decision
ABC News Sep 10, 08 11:48 CDT
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A Texas death-row inmate who filed an appeal alleging that an affair between the judge and prosecutor compromised his trial has been granted a stay of execution. But, ABC News reports, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals approved Charles Dean Hood's request based not on the affair but because of a problem with jury instructions during his trial for murder and robbery.
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Alleges affair between judge, prosecutor
ABC News Sep 5, 08 7:33 CDT
(Newser)
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A condemned Texas inmate has won a hearing to decide whether his lawyers can question the judge and prosecutor at his capital case trial about an alleged affair the two were having while the proceedings were unfolding, ABC News reports. A former county DA filed a sworn statement last year saying the affair was "common knowledge" at the time.
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Prisoners were killed to avenge platoon's losses, investigators told
New York Times Aug 27, 08 5:29 CDT
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Three US officers shot four blindfolded and handcuffed Iraqi detainees early last year and dumped their bodies in a canal, according to statements made to military investigators and obtained by the New York Times . The men are likely to face murder charges. Four others from the same platoon have been charged with murder conspiracy for agreeing to the killings, according to authorities.
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World Court had ordered hearing
Houston Chronicle Aug 6, 08 2:33 CDT
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A Mexican national convicted of raping and murdering two girls was executed in Texas yesterday in defiance of an international court. Attorneys for Jose Medellin, 33, had argued that authorities violated an international treaty when Medellin was denied access to Mexican consular officials after his arrest, reports the Houston Chronicle . The United Nations world court ordered a hearing on the issue 4 years ago, but Texas officials refused.
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Panel calls for reforms to clear massive execution backlog
Sacramento Bee Jul 1, 08 3:43 CDT
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California's capital punishment system is nearing collapse, according to a state commission. The time between sentencing and execution in the state is as long as 25 years—double the national average. The panel recommended California spend $100 million a year to hire more lawyers and clear the "overwhelmed" appeals system, reports the Sacramento Bee .
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New tests reveal evidence flaw that went undetected in 1921
Reuters May 27, 08 6:27 CDT
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An Australian man hanged for raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl has been pardoned 86 years after his execution, Reuters reports. Hairs found in his bed that were said to belong to the victim weren’t hers, recent tests showed. The attorney general said the case was a warning against the use of the death penalty, which hasn't been imposed in Australia since 1967.
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With Supreme Court's blessing, officials move to play catch-up
New York Times May 3, 08 9:03 CDT
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States are getting ready to catch up on executions now that a Supreme Court moratorium has been lifted, the New York Times reports. At least 14 executions have been scheduled in six states in coming months. "The Supreme Court has essentially blessed their way of doing things," a legal expert said. "They’re back from vacation and ready to go to work."
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World leader doesn't report thousands more, Amnesty says
BBC Apr 15, 08 8:26 CDT
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China's 470 executions in 2007 make it the world's leader, according to Amnesty International's annual report on the worldwide state of capital punishment. But even that number is likely low, the group says, with the real number probably in the thousands. "China gets the 'gold medal' for global executions," Amnesty's British director told the BBC.
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CNN tours the former dictator's US detention cell
CNN Mar 27, 08 2:10 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The dictator who ruled with a murderous fist spent his time writing in his journal and tending to a small garden his captors allowed him in the prison courtyard. And on his execution day, the man known as "Vic" told guards to tell his daughter he was going to meet God with a clear conscience, a soldier for Iraq. CNN toured Saddam Hussein's detention cell, and reports these details of his last days.
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Convicted of genocide, cousin of Saddam has death sentence approved
Reuters Feb 29, 08 5:50 CST
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Saddam Hussein's cousin "Chemical Ali" will be hanged now that the last legal obstacle to his execution has been eliminated by the Iraqi presidency council, Reuters reports. The execution of Ali Hassan al-Majid will take place in a matter of days, according to a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
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Heightened security greets first anniversary of Hussein's execution
Reuters Dec 30, 07 9:51 CST
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"There is no life without the sun and no dignity without Saddam," read graffiti in the former Iraqi leader’s hometown of Tikrit today, the first anniversary of his execution. Small groups of mourners came to his tomb to praise Saddam Hussein’s accomplishments, reports Reuters, amid tightened security in anticipation of attacks by die-hard supporters.
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Supreme Court
orders judges to go easy on the death penalty
BBC Sep 14, 07 9:50 CDT
(Newser)
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China's Supreme Court has ordered judges to stop being so execution-happy. China carries out more capital punishment than the rest of the world combined, but the Supreme People's Court posted an order on its website today that the death penalty should be used only for "an extremely small number of serious offenders"—and that economic crimes and crimes of passion should be excluded, in some cases.
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