Death Penalty
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neglected, ca old issue rose bird
proxy?
merri ok
see capital punish death bak
see execute firing
see authoritarian
see strict fr, tough on crime, male
bak 919
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trump other gop call for dem staffers?
no lnx
'I'm tough on crime': Trump and DeSantis duke it out over pro-death penalty stance
Alex Henderson April 17, 2023
When it comes to the death penalty, the United States is out of step with many of its allies. A long list of countries in the European Union (EU) have long since abolished capital punishment, from Italy to Sweden to the Republic of Ireland — as have the United States' neighbors to the north (Canada) and south (Mexico). Australia hasn't had an execution since 1967, and in 2010, the Australian Commonwealth Parliament voted to prohibit any state from reintroducing the death penalty.
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Yet in the U.S., some far-right MAGA Republicans not only want to see the death penalty used more often — they want to expand it to include crimes other than murder. Two of them are former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appears to be gearing up for a 2024 presidential run even though he has yet to make a formal announcement.
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Journalist Gary Fineout, in an article published by Politico on April 17, stresses that Trump and DeSantis are both making a concerted effort to show fellow Republicans how pro-death penalty they are. Trump, Fineout notes, proposes expanding the death penalty to include drug trafficking; some DeSantis' allies in the Florida State Legislature, according to Fineout, want "the death penalty to be imposed on" anyone "convicted of raping a child despite a narrowly-decided U.S. Supreme Court decision from 2008 that found such punishments unconstitutional."
READ MORE: Tim Scott’s presidential committee got off to a 'weird' and 'grossly dishonest' start: conservative
"Ahead of a likely presidential bid," Fineout reports, "Gov. Ron DeSantis is leaning into a reliable campaign message: I’m tough on crime…. DeSantis' record on criminal justice is something that allies of formerPresident Donald Trump have already hit the governor on. They criticized him for signing a bill in 2019 that raised the amount that must be stolen for someone to be charged with a felony. The Make America Great Again PAC, last month, claimed that 'while President Trump is the only presidential candidate calling for the death penalty for drug dealers, DeSantis is giving a pass to thieves.'"
Much of the U.S., however, has been rethinking the death penalty. In 2022, according to France's Le Monde, only six U.S. states carried out executions: Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Mississippi and Arizona. Florida didn't have any executions in 2022, but Fineout notes that DeSantis has "signed three death warrants so far this year."
Mother Jones reporter Noah Lanard, in an article published on April 15, stresses thatDeSantis opposes Florida's current requirement that a jury be unanimous in order for the death penalty to be imposed.
"Gov. Ron DeSantis is on the verge of signing a bill that would allow people in Florida to be executed without a unanimous decision by a jury," Lanard reports. "Instead, an 8-4 vote would be enough for someone to be put to death in the state. The bill passed the Florida Senate last month and passed the House on Thursday, (April 13) by an 80-30 margin. The bill has been a priority for DeSantis, who opposed the decision not to sentence to death the Parkland school shooter who killed 17 people in 2018. Three jurors voted against the death penalty in that case."
READ MORE: Conservative preacher calls for abolishing the death penalty after jury spares Parkland shooter's life
In the U.S., the legality or illegality of the death penalty varies from state to state. According to the Washington Post,27 states still have the death penalty — and out of that 27, only three allow the death penalty without a jury's unanimous approval during a trial's penalty phase.
In 24 of those states, a jury could find the defendant guilty of first-degree murder but spare the person's life if one of the jurors votes against imposing the death penalty. In that scenario, the jury could be unanimous with the guilty verdict but have a hung jury with the penalty phase — which would likely mean life without parole but not execution for the person convicted. That is why pro-death penalty prosecutors, during jury selection or voir dire in capital murder cases, often ask prospective jurors how they feel about capital punishment.
READ MORE: 'What do you think of firing squads?' Trump hopes to 'put fear of God into violent criminals' if reelected
View Fineout's full report at this link. Explore Lanard's here.
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an 3 22
Robert Foster, a Republican former Mississippi state representative and failed gubernatorial candidate Friday night launched an unhinged assault on transgender allies, calling for their death by firing squad. After online outrage, he doubled down Saturday morning.
The Mississippi Free Press reports Foster is “using his social-media platform to call for the execution of political foes who support the rights of transgender people.”
Friday night Foster tweeted: “Some of y’all still want to try and find political compromise with those that want to groom our school aged children and pretend men are women, etc. I think they need to be lined up against wall [sic] before a firing squad to be sent to an early judgment.”
Saturday morning Foster, a farmer who runs an agritourism business and calls himself a “Man of Faith,” and a “Constitutional Conservative,” doubled down, attacking his foes and defending his hate-filled remarks while trying to claim he was not referring to transgender people.
“I see this really set some of the wackos off, let me elaborate for you. First, that tweet says nothing about shooting or killing transgendered people. It clearly says groomers,” he wrote. “Groomers” is a commonly-used word to describe pedophiles or those who establish relationships with children in service of pedophiles, but has been used increasingly by conservatives to demean LGBTQ people with a false claim that equates them with pedophiles. And in writing, “pretend men are women,” Foster clearly was referring to, at minimum, supporters of transgender people.
He did not stop there.
“To those adults that groom children into dressing like the opposite sex, telling them they can be a different sex, encouraging them to take hormone treatments to ‘transition’ and ultimately have surgery to remove their sex organs, I propose they be given the death penalty,” Foster added.
Foster, like many Republicans who attack transgender children and adults, clearly has not done his homework, but he did release a statement to the Mississippi Free Press:
“I said what I said,” he wrote, adding to what he had tweeted. “The law should be changed so that anyone trying to sexually groom children and/or advocating to put men pretending to be women in locker rooms and bathrooms with young women should receive the death penalty by firing squad.”
And he tweeted:
“Adult groomers of transgendered children are all pedophiles. Pedophiles deserve the death penalty.”
At around 11:00 AM ET Foster’s original tweet was removed and Twitter stated: “This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules.” So far his remaining tweets have not been deleted.
Foster, the Mississippi Free Press notes, “authored the state’s current death penalty law in 2017, allowing for executions by gas chamber, electrocution and firing squad.”
For those who think Foster’s anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, coupled with his electoral loss have hamstrung his political power, Mississippi Free Press adds:
“Despite winning less than 18% of the GOP primary vote, Foster’s farm venue has become a prime destination for Republicans since 2019, with GOP officials like U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, U.S. House Rep. Trent Kelly and House Speaker Philip Gunn attending fundraisers and other events on the property.”
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wiki oann
Promotion of executions
In June 2021, OANN personality Pearson Sharp falsely stated in an on-air monologue that "the simple facts point to massive and widespread problems with voting integrity" and "there have been numerous indications that foreign governments including China and Pakistan, meddled in our election to install Joe Biden as president," continuing:
What are the consequences for traitors who meddled with our sacred democratic process and tried to steal power by taking away the voices of the American people? What happens to them? Well, in the past, America had a very good solution for dealing with such traitors: Execution...The bottom line is that no one is above the law. And let this be a warning to anyone who thinks they are. The consequences are clear. And those responsible will be brought to justice for their role in undermining America's democracy.
Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory shared video of the monologue, which buttressed their belief that a "storm" was coming in which Satan-worshiping pedophiles who oppose Trump would be rounded up and executed.[162][163]
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executions
https://www.alternet.org/2020/12/barr-2649650412
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hang gas electrocute
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damning report exposes Trump DOJ's efforts to line up a secret supply chain for federal executions
July 12, 2020
An explosiveReuters investigationrevealed Friday that a series of executions the Trump administration has planned for next week "will mark the culmination of a three-year campaign to line up a secret supply chain to make and test lethal injection drugs."
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barr post election loss
https://www.alternet.org/2020/11/penalty/
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/09/barr-to-be-honored-for-christlike-behavior-with-award-from-right-wing-catholic-group-with-strong-ties-to-trump/
no lnx twt
attorney General Bill Barr will be honored for his “Christlike behavior” at Wednesday’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, according to Roman Catholic Sister, author, and anti-death penalty activist Sister Helen Prejean.
"sister Helen Prejean
@helenprejean
The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast will present an award to Attorney General Barr for “Christlike behavior” tomorrow morning. A.G. Barr has ordered the executions of six men with at least one more on the calendar. What is “Christlike” about using discretionary power to kill?"
The National Catholic Prayer Breakfast says Barr will be presented with its Christifideles Laici Award during today’s 16th annual prayer event.
“In Honor and Gratitude for Fidelity to the Church, Exemplary Selfless and Steadfast Service in the Lord’s Vineyard,” are the words inscribed on the award.
The event is being sponsored by several groups, including Alliance Defending Freedom, which appears on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups.
President Donald Trump is expected to address the group today during its virtual ceremony.
Among the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast’s founders arePat Cipollone, President Trump’s White House Counsel; former RepublicanSenator Rick Santorum; and Joseph Cella, President Trump’s Ambassador to Fiji, and a former Trump transition team member who co-founded the right wing activist group Catholic Vote.
Another founder of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is Austin Ruse, the president of the anti-LGBTQ hate group Center for Family and Human Rights (C-FAM).
Perhaps the most notable founder of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast is the group’s president, conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo.
Leo also serves as co-chairman of the Federalist Society, the far right group responsible for promoting the illegitimate belief that the U.S. Constitution should be interpreted by judges according to how the nation’s founders thought.
President Trump, for the first time in history, has effectively farmed out the approval process for federal court judges and even Supreme Court justices he nominates, to the Federalist Society.
The award to Barr is being condemned by notable Catholics, including Sister Prejean, and Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and editor-at-large at America magazine.
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https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-thinks-authoritarian-executions-stop-drug-use-but-hes-totally-wrong/
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https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/how-some-alabama-county-sheriffs-force-their-inmates-into-medical-debt
no lnx
How some Alabama county sheriffs force their inmates into medical debt
Written by ProPublica December 26, 2019
This article was produced in partnership with AL.com, which is a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network.
In Alabama, the county in which you’re arrested could be the deciding factor in who will be financially responsible for your medical bills behind bars.
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In Baldwin County, known for its white-sand Gulf Coast beaches and waterfront communities, the sheriff’s office ensures that inmates in the county jail do not have to pay anything more than a $15 copayment for medical care.
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“Inmates are not billed for the full cost of any medical care either inside or outside” the jail, Sheriff Hoss Mack said in an email. “Alabama Code Title 14 assigns financial responsibility of inmates’ medical treatment to the department where they are being held.”
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Just across the bay in Mobile County, home to one of the busiest ports in the U.S. and the eponymous city of nearly 200,000 people built around it, Sheriff Sam Cochran takes a different tack: Some of his inmates are personally on the hook for the full cost of medically necessary care they receive from outside doctors while incarcerated, even if they are awaiting trial.
The difference between the two sheriffs’ approaches demonstrates the unique power Alabama sheriffs have to set their own rules and answer only to voters.Legal experts and civil rights advocates say sheriffs like Cochran are likely violating both state law and the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and excessive fines.
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Amnesty International amplifies calls for clemency for Rodney Reed as Supreme Court considers case
As the Supreme Court debated Friday whether to take up the case of death row inmate Rodney Reed, Amnesty International demanded that Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott grant clemency in the case as…
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https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/trumps-disturbing-plan-to-address-mass-shooting-has-nothing-to-do-with-gun-safety-its-a-sign-of-his-authoritarianism/
no lnx
Trump’s disturbing plan to address mass shooting has nothing to do with gun safety — it’s a sign of his authoritarianism
Written by Nancy LeTourneau / Washington Monthly September 3, 2019
Less than an hour after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold started shooting people at Columbine High School, they killed themselves. The same is true for Adam Lanza, who killed himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School after his shooting rampage.
That is not an uncommon end for mass shooters, according to research done by the Associated Press.
More than half the perpetrators of mass shootings since 2006 have ended up dead at the scene of their crimes, either killed by others or dying by suicide, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University…Of the 82 public mass shootings since 2006, 30 gunmen killed themselves and 16 were killed.
While the specifics can be controversial, of the 16 who were killed at the scene, it is possible that many of them would fit the description of“suicide by cop,” which is “a method of suicide that occurs when a subject engages in threatening behavior in an attempt to be killed by law enforcement.
We can assume that a gunman who engages in a mass shooting expects (or wants) to die. At a minimum, he is not concerned with the consequences of his behavior. But that kind of basic logic has escaped this administration.
The Justice Department has drafted legislation to expedite the death penalty for those convicted of mass murder and the provision will be included in a larger White House package designed to address recent incidents of gun violence, a top aide to Vice President Mike Pence said Monday.
Pence has been directly involved in conversations with Attorney General William Barr about the death penalty initiative, Marc Short, the vice president’s chief of staff, told reporters traveling with Pence between Poland and Ireland on Monday.
Since imposing the death penalty happens only after a gunman has taken lives and spread terror, the only possible justification for it is deterrence. But as Matt Stein explains, the administration is once again ignoring the evidence.
One study from 2009 found that 88 percent of criminologists did not consider the threat of execution as a deterrent, a level of consensus that matched the scientific consensus on human involvement in global warming.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is ignoring research about policies that could actually save lives.
Children living in states with strict firearm laws are less likely to die from gun violence than those in states with more lax restrictions, according to a study in Pediatrics published Monday. The more rigorous the rules, the lower the risk, the researchers showed.
Given the involvement of Donald Trump and William Barr in this decision to push for the death penalty in response to mass shootings, it should come as no surprise that they have ignored the facts. After all, it was the president who called for the reinstatement of the death penalty against the Central Park Five before they even stepped footin a courtroom. He has also referred to our criminal justice system as a “laughingstock” because it isn’t strong enough. Similarly, the attorney general doesn’t seem to know the difference between justice and revenge, suggesting that because our system is a process, it doesn’t achieve justice very often.
Confirming what we would expect, studies have shown that “authoritarianism is a leading predictor of death penalty support.” Perhaps that is why, prior to this move by the Trump administration, the United States already “ranked in the top five countries in terms of state killings, along with Saudi Arabia, China, Iraq, and Iran.” Additionally, “the vast majority of executions in America (81 percent) have been carried out by Southern states,” with Texas—where two mass shootings recently took place—leading the way. It is clear that Trump and Barr want to inflict the death penalty more often because they are authoritarians, not because it works.
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:{Saudi Arabia May Execute Teenager for His Protests — Including When He Was 10:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:
IN 2011, as Arab Spring protests swept across the Middle East, demonstrations also kicked off in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich Eastern Province. Members of the kingdom’s repressed Shiite minority took to the streets, calling for equal rights and a fairer distribution of oil revenues. The protesters included a group of around 30 kids on bicycles. As a videoreleased last week by CNN shows, those children were led by a smiling 10-year-old in flip-flops named Murtaja Qureiris.
“The people demand human rights!” the young boy can be seen shouting through a megaphone.
Here’s the problem: Demanding human rights in Saudi Arabia lands you in prison. Even if you’re a kid.
Three years later, in September 2014, 13-year-old Murtaja was arrested while on his way to neighboring Bahrain with his family.
“At the time,” reports CNN, “he was considered by lawyers and activists to be the youngest known political prisoner in Saudi Arabia.
Over the past four years, say human rights groups, this teenager has been subjected to torture and intimidation, as well as a spell in solitary confinement. He has been denied access to a lawyer while interrogators try to get him to confess to the trumped-up charges against him. These include “participating in anti-government protests, attending the funeral of his brother Ali Qureiris who was killed in a protest in 2011, joining a ‘terrorist organization,’ throwing Molotov cocktails at a police station, and firing at security forces,” according to Amnesty International.
Last week, we learned that Saudi prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for 18-year-old Murtaja, who is being tried in an anti-terror court. CNN reports that the prosecutors want to “impose the harshest form of the death penalty, which may include crucifixion or dismemberment after execution.”
Got that? The unelected government of a close ally of the United States is planning on brutally executing an 18-year-old member of a minority group, for crimes allegedly committed when he was 10 years old.
Let me repeat: Ten. Years. Old.
We shouldn’t forget the person who is primarily responsible for this outrage: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS. Since his father installed him in power, the violent crushing of political dissent has escalated. According to the CIA, MBS ordered the horrific murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He is also behind the targeting of three Arab activists in Norway, Canada, and the United States.
Much has (rightly) been made of the crown prince’s shocking record on extrajudicial killings. But what of the growing number of judicially sanctioned killings inside of Saudi Arabia on his watch? The planned execution of Murtaja Qureiris may be the most horrendous act yet.
“There should be no doubt that the Saudi Arabian authorities are ready to go to any length to crack down on dissent against their own citizens, including by resorting to the death penalty for men who were merely boys at the time of their arrest,” says Lynn Maalouf, Middle East research director at Amnesty International.
The Gulf kingdom is one of the world’s top executioners and, according to Maalouf, Saudi authorities have “a chilling track record of using the death penalty as a weapon to crush political dissent and punish anti-government protesters — including children — from the country’s persecuted Shi’a minority.”
The majority of the country, and the ruling family, are from a strict school of Sunni Islam called Salafism. In April, 37 people were executed in a single day — the biggest mass execution in the kingdom since 2016 — and the vast majority of them were believed to be Shiites. Three of them, according to human rights group Reprieve, were “minors at the time of their alleged offences.” Such executions, as both Reprieve and Amnesty International have noted, are a brazen violation of international human rights law.
Another three Saudi Shiites — Ali al-Nimr, Dawood al-Marhoon, and Abdullah al-Zaher — who were also below the age of 18 at the time of their alleged crimes, are still on death row and could be executed at anytime.
It isn’t just Shiites, either. MBS has also targeted Sunni clerics who have failed to fall into line. There have been reports that the belligerent and thin-skinned crown prince plans on executing three high-profile Saudi religious scholars — Salman al-Odah, Awad al-Qarni, and Ali al-Omari — all of whom have been held on multiple charges of “terrorism.” 62-year-old Odah is famous in the Arab world for his relatively progressive views on Islam and homosexuality and his 2007 denunciation of Osama bin Laden. His actual “crime”? Tweeting a prayer for reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and its Gulf rival, the Emirate of Qatar. (Full disclosure: I host two TV shows for Qatar-funded Al Jazeera English.)
Supporters of MBS often try and argue that these executions are the product of decisions made in court, not in the royal palace. This is a laughable defense. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy. There is no independent judiciary. As CNN reports, “The death penalty can only be enforced by order of King Salman or his authorized representative. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is frequently characterized as the King’s deputy.”
Forget MBS the reformer; meet MBS the executioner. The fact that he has been embraced closely by everyone from Donald Trump to Emmanuel Macron to Theresa May should be a source of shame for those of us living in the West. To quote former Obama-era National Security Council spokesperson Tommy Vietor, MBS is “Kim Jong Un with oil money.”
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new
https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/saudi-arabia-beheaded-37-dissidents-last-month-and-u-s-media-called-them-terrorists/
Saudi Arabia executed 37 men on April 23, as it announced in a press release in its official gazette. The first line of the release read, “Saudi Arabia said it executed 37 citizens last Tuesday after they were convicted of terrorism.”
A cursory Google search would have shown that this assertion was completely false. But many in the U.S. press dutifully stenographed this claim into a headline:
- “37 Saudis Executed for Terrorism-Related Crimes”: Time (4/23/19)
- “Saudi Arabia Executes 37 in One Day for Terrorism”: New York Times (4/23/19)
- “Saudi Arabia Beheads 37 Prisoners for Terrorism Crimes”: PBS NewsHour (4/23/19)
In fact, by looking at court documents from the Saudi government, we know that of these 37 men, 11 of them wereaccused of being “Iranian spies,” and 22 were accused of participating in a demonstration during the Arab Spring. (These 33 belonged to the Shia minority; the others practiced Sunni Islam or could not be identified.)
Of the 22 men accused of protesting, six were juveniles at the time. Mujtaba Al Suweikat was on his way to study at Western Michigan University when the Saudi authorities arrested him and charged him with “inciting disloyalty to the king.”
Saeed Mohammed Al Skafi was 17 during the protests. One of the charges against him was “posting pictures of other detainees.” Most of the others were convicted of offenses like “chanting disloyal slogans about the king” and “using social media to incite demonstrations.”
Of the 11 convicted of being Iranian spies, they were also found guilty of farcical offenses such as “condemning the bloodshed” (in February 2012, Saudi forces in the Shia-majority Saudi governorate of Qatif had sprayed protesters with bullets) and saving images and documents of the protests (which are also available on YouTube) on their hard drives.
A
mong the other four people executed, Khaled Al Tuwairji, a Sunni, was accused of killing Maj. Gen. Nasser Othman. However, all three outlets repeated that he was a “Sunni extremist,” for which we have no other evidence. Al Tuwairji was tortured into a confession (Erem News, 4/23/19). But all three outlets justified his execution and subsequent crucifixion by insisting that he was a convicted Sunni militant.
Another of the Sunnis executed, Khaled Al Farraj, was convicted on the vague charge of being affiliated with an outlawed terrorist organization. But even according to Saudi state media, he didn’t engage in any acts of terrorism. He is the only one of the 37 people executed who seems to have been charged with a terrorism-related offense.
PBS NewsHour (4/23/19)
Having false information in the headlines is extremely prejudicial. Studies have repeatedly shown that a large portion of readers do not read past the headlines — and those that do end up remembering the headline the most.
In its first version of the article, which has changed since then, the New York Times wrote of Saudi Arabia, “It listed the 37 men by name but provided little information about what specific crimes had been committed by whom or when.” Instead of relying on a Saudi press release, the Times could have tried a cursory web search — or even searched its own archives. In an article by the Times editorial board (8/3/17) nearly two years ago, it had a short biography of Mujtaba Al Suweikat, the “disloyal” Western Michigan student, and the specific crimes he had been charged with.
Though the Times article was edited after publication to include some information that didn’t come from the Saudi press release — citing a Human Rights Watch official’s concern that many of the cases “raised serious rights concerns,” for example — the revised article was still misleading. For example, in paragraph three, it stated, “Some men had been involved in bomb attacks on security headquarters that had killed officers, the [state news] agency said.” As far as we know, none of the 37 executed men had been involved in any bomb attacks, but the Times never challenged this Saudi government assertion.
Furthermore, the Times said that 14 of those killed had been arrested in relation to “sometimes violent protests.” It failed to mention that that violence came from the Saudi government.This video, from July 2012, clearly shows Saudi police
. In searching through the news archives, articles have repeatedly mentioned protesters being shot by the Saudi police. There appear to be no reports (outside Saudi propaganda statements) of violence emanating from the protesters.
The articles in the Times, Time magazine and the NewsHour all mentioned Saudi-Iranian relations, thereby amplifying longstanding Saudi propaganda that accuses Shia of being naturally loyal to Iran, which is blamed for “stoking unrest” to justify brutal crackdowns of the religious minority.
All three outlets also added gratuitous details about the attack in Sri Lanka and/or other ISIS-related attacks — attacks that there’s no suggestion any of the defendants were connected to. In fact, most of these defendants were arrested before ISIS existed. And a majority of those killed, being Shiites, would be viewed by ISIS as heretics. To bring up these attacks seems like a distraction from the topic of the stories, which is the Saudi government beheading people who have for the most part been accused mainly of being dissidents.
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2x down on MBS 4/19?
but then
https://www.alternet.org/2019/04/jared-kushner-talks-of-accountability-for-crown-prince-as-saudis-offer-egregious-display-of-brutality-with-mass-beheadings/
Just as Jared Kushner answered questions about the close ties between the White House and Saudi Arabia in New York on Tuesday, the Middle Eastern kingdom beheaded 37 people in its largest mass execution in at last three years.
The executions, of mostly Shiite men accused of terrorism related crimes, were part of what Washington’s Gulf Institute director Ali Al-Ahmed called “the largest mass execution of Shiites in the kingdom’s history.”
Al-Ahmed identified 34 of the 37 victims as Shiite.
According to reports, Saudi Arabian security services nailed one of the heads to a poll as a warning and one victim was crucified after his execution.
Saudi Arabia displays severed head on pole as a warning after beheading 37 Saudi citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution across the country for alleged terrorism-related crimes. Via @AP https://t.co/J3yxex0VjA
— BrinleyBruton (@BrinleyBruton) April 23, 2019
The killings were announced by Saudi state media Tuesday morning, Eastern time, right before Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and a senior advisor to the president, took the stage at the Time 100 Summit event honoring the magazine’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Saudi Arabia confirms beheading 37 citizens, most of them minority Shiites, in a mass execution for alleged terrorism-related crimes. One body and its severed head was tied to a pole as a public warning. https://t.co/ydFt8M3r0C
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) April 23, 2019
During an interview at the event with Time White House correspondent Brian Bennett, Kushner fielded questions on a number of foreign policy questions, including the Israel/Palestine conflict and the Trump administration’s closeness to Russia.
Kushner was also asked a series of questions on Saudi Arabia and the relationship between the U.S. and the kingdom, especially in light of the murder of Jamal Kashoggi in October 2018 and the war on Yemen.
Kushner doesn’t dispute U.S. intelligence services’ conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was behind murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi https://t.co/iVRb7y2A98 pic.twitter.com/NjXhE77NlJ
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 23, 2019
In his replies, Kushner downplayed the significance of the murder, pled ignorance on the details of the crime, and admitted that he offered Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman guidance as the world demanded accountability.
Kushner seems to acknowledge he advised Saudi Crown Prince MBS after #Khashoggi‘s murder.
“The advice I gave was be as transparent as possible and that obviously we have to make sure there is accountability for what happened,” Kushner says at #TIME100 summit
— Jennifer Hansler (@jmhansler) April 23, 2019
“Obviously, we have to make sure there’s accountability for what happened,” saidKushner, before pivoting to a series of remarks critical of Iran, the Palestinians, and the Yemeni Houthis.
In response to the beheadings, Maya Foa, director of the U.K.-based human rights groups Reprieve, put the “egregious display of brutality” squarely at the feet of MbS and the Kingdom’s western allies which have shielded it from exactly the accountability Kushner says he supports.
“That the Saudi regime believes it has impunity to carry out such patently illegal executions, without notice,” Foa said, “should shock its international partners into action.”
Reprieve Director @mayafoa: “This is another egregious display of brutality by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. That the Saudi regime believes it has impunity to carry out such patently illegal executions, without notice, should shock its international partners into action.”
— Reprieve (@Reprieve) April 23, 2019
In March 2018, The Intercept reported that Bin Salman bragged that he had Kushner “in his pocket.”
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New Hampshire Poised To Eliminate Death Penalty
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How the death penalty is getting crueler
Jill Richardson / Common Dreams
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Gorsuch just handed down the most bloodthirsty and cruel death penalty opinion of the modern era
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https://www.alternet.org/after-spending-big-reinstate-death-penalty-nebraska-gov-brushes-aside-popes-call-push-forward-plan
After Spending Big to Reinstate Death Penalty, Nebraska Gov. Brushes Aside Pope's Call to Push Forward With Plan for 'Experimental Execution'
"Will Catholic [Gov. Pete Ricketts], who spends a lot of time talking about his 'pro-life values,' heed the words of Pope Francis by cancelling the experimental execution scheduled for August 14 in Nebraska?" asks Sister Helen Prejean
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed federal prosecutors on Wednesday to seek the death penalty in drug-related cases, saying executions should be used as a deterrent to combat the opioid epidemic. The announcement came amid a push by President Trump to apply capital punishment to drug dealers—citing favorably the policies of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has boasted of killing drug dealers himself.
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2 americas?
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saudi freq public beheadings
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http://www.counterpunch.org/2003/06/13/killer-bill-pryor-s-mad-quest-for-the-federal-bench/
Weekend Edition June 13-15, 2003
Pryor Unrestraint :
Killer Bill Pryor’s Mad Quest for the Federal Bench
by JEFFREY ST. CLAIR
When Bill Pryor was running for re-election as Attorney General for the state of Alabama in 2002, he demanded that theexecution dates of 8 prisoners be moved up so that they could be put to death prior to the fall vote.
"Bill Pryor’s a pretty harsh guy," says Barbara Howard, a defense attorney from Montgomery who handles death penalty cases. "I suspect he did this as a political ploy."
This "pretty harsh guy" is the man George W. Bush now wants to install in a lifetime position on the 11th Circuit federal court of appeals, covering Alabama, Florida and Georgia.
Pryor is so maniacally devoted to the death penalty that he objected loudly to the recent Supreme Court decision in the Atkins case ruling that executing mentally retarded and brain damaged people violated the Constitution.
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