Bush: Former Army Cook's Crimes Warrant Execution
President Bush could have commuted the death sentence of Ronald A. Gray, a former Army cook convicted of multiple rapes and murders. But Bush decided Monday that Gray's crimes were so repugnant that execution was the only just punishment.
Iran Hangs 29 People
Iran hanged 29 people at dawn on Sunday after they had been convicted of murder, drug trafficking and other crimes, state run television reported. The hangings brought to about 150 the number of people executed in Iran so far this year. International human rights groups have accused Iran of making excessive use of the death penalty, but Iranian officials say capital punishment is an effective deterrent carried out only after all judicial proceedings are exhausted.
The beauty of the Internet is getting to say exactly what you want in a public forum, right?(Well that and stalking ex-boyfriends and shopping at work, but I digress.) The ability to speak one's mind in bytes and blips has
landed one blogger with a jail sentence for extremism. A Russian man who called the local police “scum” and calling for the clean-up of the force he blogged that the police should be burned in the town square twice a day. For this posting, was convicted of “inciting hatred or enmity” and given a one-year suspended sentence.
Raul Castro has
commuted all but three death sentences handed down in Cuba. Every death-row inmate, besides three convicted terrorists, will now face 30 years in prison, instead of death by firing squad.
Raul, who officially took over for his brother Fidel Castro this past February, said that humanitarian concerns, not international pressure, motivated his decision.
International pressure may have saved the life of an Iranian woman sentenced to
death by stoning. After 11 years behind bars for committing adultery, Mokarrameh Ebrahimi has been freed. Her partner, Jafar Kiani, was stoned to death in July 2007, causing an international uproar.
US military prosecutors are
seeking the death penalty for six Guantanamo detainees held for their roles in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The six who face this sentence include Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former al-Qaeda operations chief who has called himself the mastermind of the attacks, and the so-called “20th hijacker,” the man who was denied entry to the US the month before the attack.
