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U.S. | I'm a Death Row Pastor. They're Just Ordinary Folks

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In the early 1970s I was a North Carolinian, white boy from the South attending Union Theological Seminary in New York City, and working in East Harlem as part of a program. In my senior year, I visited men at the Bronx House of Detention. I had never been in a prison or jail, but people in East Harlem were dealing with these places and the police all the time. This experience truly turned my life around.

2 beheaded Saudis bring 2014 execution tally to 82

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2 Saudis were beheaded on Tuesday for drug trafficking and murder, official media reported, bringing to 82 the number of executions this year.

The sentence against Abdulrahman bin Bakheit al-Lugmani was carried out in the western city of Mecca, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency.

He had been convicted of smuggling a large quantity of amphetamines, it said.

The 2nd execution was in Eastern Province. Mehdi al-Mahmoud had been convicted of shooting dead another man following a dispute, the ministry said.

According to an AFP tally, 82 Saudis and foreigners have been beheaded in the kingdom this year, with more than 2/3 of the executions carried out over the past 4 months.

There were 78 executions last year.

Saudi Arabia had the 3rd-highest number of recorded executions in 2013, behind Iran and Iraq, said Amnesty International.

The rights watchdog did not have reliable data from China which implemented the most death penalty sentences.

Along with drug trafficking and murder, rape, apostasy, homosexuality and armed robbery are punishable by death under Saudi Arabia's strict version of Islamic Sharia law.

Source: Deccan Chronicle, December 16, 2014
Location: Mecca Saudi Arabia
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