Washington, United States:

Donald Trump hit out Tuesday at Joe Biden for commuting the sentences of almost every American federal prisoner on death row, as the president-elect prepares to replace the Democrat in the White House.

President Biden, in his final month in office, announced Monday he was converting the sentences of 37 of the 40 federal inmates awaiting execution to life without the possibility of parole.

They included nine people convicted of murdering fellow prisoners, four for murders committed during bank robberies and one who killed a prison guard.

“Joe Biden just commuted the Death Sentence on 37 of the worst killers in our Country,” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.

“When you hear the acts of each, you won’t believe that he did this. Makes no sense. Relatives and friends are further devastated. They can’t believe this is happening!”

Biden had imposed a moratorium on the federal death penalty but was under pressure to act further before leaving the White House on January 20, amid signals from Republican Trump that he would resume the practice.

Biden rebuked the inmates he had spared and “their despicable acts,” but said he had been guided by “my conscience and my experience” to prevent the incoming Trump administration from resuming executions.

He excluded three men from his order, however — one of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombers, a gunman who murdered 11 Jewish worshippers in 2018 and a white supremacist who shot nine Black churchgoers dead in 2015.

Trump confirmed he would direct the Justice Department to “vigorously pursue the death penalty to protect American families and children from violent rapists, murderers, and monsters.”

“We will be a Nation of Law and Order again!” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A 47-year-old man in China was sentenced to death after he pushed his wife into the sea to claim an insurance payout. According to a report by China’s state broadcaster CCTV on November 21, the man, identified by his surname Li, planned to collect his wife’s life insurance payout to settle his debts and fund his use of prostitutes. Last year, the Liaoning Higher People’s Court handed down capital punishment for intentional homicide. However, it is unclear whether the sentence has been executed.

As per a report by the South China Morning Post, the incident occurred on May 5, 2021, on a ferry travelling from Dalian, Liaoning Province, to Yantai, Shandong Province, in eastern China. During the journey, the wife of the accused, also surnamed Li, fell over the ferry’s railing and into the sea. Following a 45-minute search, authorities recovered her body. Upon learning of her death, her husband appeared to be in shock, sitting on the ground in a state of paralysis.

Initially, he claimed the incident was accidental. However, investigators grew suspicious due to the location of the incident being in a blind spot of the ferry’s extensive surveillance system, which comprises over 200 cameras. Furthermore, forensic experts discovered bruises on the victim’s face.

Additionally, Li demonstrated an unusual eagerness to obtain his wife’s death certificate from the authorities, citing local customs that dictated cremation within three days of death. Unknown to Li, the police had devised a plan to invite him to Dalian under the pretence of providing the certificate, while simultaneously dispatching officers to Shanghai, where Li resided, to conduct a discreet investigation into his activities.

Investigations uncovered that Li owned a restaurant in Shanghai, but he struggled with debt. Li remained unmarried until October 2020, when he wed a 46-year-old woman, also surnamed Li, who had two children from her previous two marriages. Interestingly, the woman had been employed at Li’s restaurant since 2016. However, police inquiries revealed that the restaurant staff were unaware of their marriage, and neighbours observed that the couple did not appear to be in a romantic relationship.

During the investigation, officers also tracked down a 19-year-old girlfriend of the husband. Just half a month later, he solicited a prostitute in a hotel room arranged by the police, who were surveilling him. 

Further investigation revealed that Li had purchased four life insurance policies for his wife just two months after their marriage, naming himself as the sole beneficiary. If she died in a transport-related incident, he would have received a whopping 12 million yuan (US$1.6 million) in compensation.

Despite the evidence, Li continued to claim innocence. However, forensic experts analysed footage from surveillance cameras and concluded that the victim’s body fell in a manner consistent with being pushed, rather than an accidental fall. Enhanced footage also revealed another person’s arm in black, matching Li’s attire that day.

Li was sentenced to death for murder in the first trial in July 2022, and a higher court upheld the verdict following his appeal.

New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday commuted the death penalty of a man, who murdered his pregnant daughter for performing an inter-caste marriage against her family’s will and sentenced him to 20 years in jail instead.

A bench of Justices B R Gavai, Aravind Kumar and K V Viswanathan upheld the conviction of Eknath Kisan Kumbharkar from Nashik district in Maharashtra for murdering his daughter while setting aside his death penalty.

“The order of conviction as recorded by the trial court and confirmed by the high court of judicature at Bombay vide order dated August 6, 2019 in confirmation case…is affirmed. However, the sentence of death penalty imposed by the courts below under Section 302 is converted to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment without remission,” held the bench.

The top court clarified that Kumbharkar will not be entitled to make any representation for remission till he completes 20 years of actual rigorous imprisonment.

After going through the convict’s reports, the bench said, “We find that the present case would not fall in the category of ‘rarest of rare cases’ wherein it can be held that imposition of the death penalty is the only alternative. We are of the considered opinion that the present case would fall in the category of middle path as held by this court in various judgments.” On April 25, the top court had called for the convict’s prison conduct reports from Yerawada Central Jail, apart from the probation officer’s report, his psychological evaluation and mitigation investigation report.

The bench observed that appellant hails from a poor nomadic community in Maharashtra.

“He had an alcoholic father and suffered parental neglect and poverty…Neither the appellant nor any of his family members have any criminal antecedent. It cannot be presumed that the appellant is a hardened criminal who cannot be reformed. Hence, it cannot be said that there is no possibility of reformation, even though the appellant has committed a gruesome crime,” the bench noted.

According to the prosecution, Kumbharkar had murdered his pregnant daughter Pramila on June 28, 2013 for marrying a man from a different caste against the father’s wishes.

The bench said the man was 38-years old at the time of the crime without any criminal antecedents and underlined the various other mitigating circumstances in his favour.

“The medical reports of the appellant would disclose that he has speech issues, and he has undergone an angioplasty in 2014, apart from suffering other serious ailments. The conduct report from the prison would disclose that the behaviour of the appellant in the jail is satisfactory with everyone for the past six years. Considering these factors….even though the crime committed by the appellant is unquestionably grave and unpardonable, it is not appropriate to affirm the death sentence that was awarded to him,” it held.

Death sentence should not be imposed only by taking into consideration the grave nature of crime but only if there is no possibility of reformation by a criminal, it added.

“Being conscious of the fact that sentence of life imprisonment is subject to remission, which would not be appropriate in view of the gruesome crime committed by the appellant, the course of middle path requires to be adopted in the instant case,” the top court held further.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

An Ohio father read from the Bible, told his children he loved them, and made a cryptic call to his own father-saying his eldest boy would be “the hardest one”-before brutally murdering his three young sons at their family home, the Independent reported. 

Chad Doerman, 33, shot and killed his sons Clayton, 7, Hunter, 4, and Chase, 3, in Monroe Township, about 75 miles west of Columbus, on June 15, 2023. On Friday, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison.

Disturbing new details have emerged about Doerman’s actions leading up to the murders and the final hours of the three young boys’ lives.

Also Read| US Man Lined Up And Shot 3 Sons, Police Say Attack Planned Over Several Months

In a press briefing on Monday, Clermont County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Tekulve revealed that on the day of the shooting spree, Doerman had lunch with his wife Laura and told her, “This will be my last good meal.”

Despite this ominous statement, Laura did not feel the need to “do something to protect the family,” and Doerman spent the afternoon doing yard work and playing with the children.

Around 3:30 to 3:45 p.m., Doerman began reading the Bible to Hunter, Tekulve said. “He was walking around the house with the Bible, mumbling ‘Chad knows what’s right. Chad knows what’s right,'” he said.

Just before 4 p.m., Doerman asked his family to join him for a nap in the master bedroom. His wife and three sons entered the room with him while his 12-year-old stepdaughter watched television in another room.

When Doerman opened the gun safe, his wife grew alarmed and told him, “You’re scaring me.”

What followed were events so harrowing that they brought experienced officers to tears, Tekulve told reporters in a separate press briefing on Friday.

Doerman told his family he loved them and called his sons the “best boys ever.” Then he jumped up from the bed, grabbed a .22 rifle from the safe, and his family initially worried for his safety rather than their own, fearing he would kill himself.

“Laura is screaming, the boys are screaming, Laura is frightened that he’s about to kill himself,” said Tekulve. “They’re all trying to discourage him, telling him that they love him and begging him not to kill himself.”

According to a press release from the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office, the mother of the boys was also shot in the hand. She was sent to University Hospital in Cincinnati for non-life-threatening injuries after being discovered outside the house. The prosecutors added that she was trying to take the gun away from Mr Doerman and was shot during the same. She was sent to a hospital to be treated for her injuries. However, the age and the extent of the daughter’s injuries are still unknown.

After the incident, the father was found sitting on a porch outside his residence and admitted to lining the boys up in the yard and firing at them during a subsequent interview with the authorities. He said that he had been planning the killings for several months. 

New Delhi:

A Qatar court has handed the death penalty to eight former Indian Navy personnel, a verdict that was described as “deeply shocking” by India as it vowed to explore all legal options in the case. The eight Indians were arrested in August last year in an alleged case of espionage and have since been in solitary confinement.

India, reacting to the development, said that it is attaching “high importance” to this case and is exploring all legal options.

Who are these 8 Indians?

The Indian Navy veterans, who were arrested in August 2022, are Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Sanjeev Gupta, Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht and Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar.

All of the former Navy officers had a distinguished service record of up to 20 years in the Indian Navy and had held important positions including that of instructors in the force.

In 2019, Commander Purnendu Tiwari was awarded the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians. In a post at the time, the Indian Embassy in Doha had said the award was given to Commander Tiwari for enhancing India’s image abroad.

What were they doing in Qatar?

All eight Indians worked for a private firm, Dahra Global Technologies, and Consultancy Services, which provided training and other services for Qatar’s armed forces.

The company is owned by a retired squadron leader of the Royal Oman Air Force, Khamis al-Ajmi. Ajmi too was arrested along with the Indians last year but was released in November 2022.

Sources said some of the Indians on death row were working on a highly sensitive project — Italian technology-based midget submarines with stealth characteristics.

In May, Al Dahra Global closed its operations in Doha and all those working there (primarily Indians) have since returned home.

Why were they arrested?

The eight men were arrested by Qatar’s intelligence agency on August 30, 2022. Neither the Qatari authorities nor New Delhi made the charges against the Indian nationals public yet.

According to reports, the eight men were allegedly arrested for espionage. The charges were filed against the eight Indian Navy veterans on March 25 and they are tried under Qatari law.

Their bail petitions had been rejected several times and the verdict against them was pronounced on Thursday by the Court of First Instance in Qatar.

What India is doing?

Reacting to the verdict, the Ministry of External Affairs said that they are awaiting the detailed judgement in the case and are exploring all legal options.

“We are deeply shocked by the verdict of the death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement. We are in touch with the family members and the legal team, and we are exploring all legal options,” the MEA said in a statement.

The government said it would continue to extend all consular and legal assistance to the Indians.

“We attach high importance to this case and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities,” the MEA statement said.

It is learnt that the families of the former Indian Navy personnel had filed a mercy plea to the Emir of Qatar. However, there is no confirmation of it.

New Delhi:

Eight former Indian Navy officers, who have been sentenced to death in Qatar, have been accused of spying for Israel. The eight men were working for a private firm that helped the Qatari armed forces and included decorated officers who once commanded Indian warships.

In August 2022, the retired officers were arrested on charges of spying and were accused of espionage and state-sponsored terrorism. According to reports, the eight men were spying for Qatar on a secret naval project.

The convicted men are Captain Navtej Singh Gill, Captain Birendra Kumar Verma, Captain Saurabh Vasisht, Commander Amit Nagpal, Commander Purnendu Tiwari, Commander Sugunakar Pakala, Commander Sanjeev Gupta and Sailor Ragesh Gopakumar. They worked for a private firm, Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, which provided training and other services for Qatar’s armed forces.

In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said it was shocked by the verdict and would take up the issue with Qatari authorities. 

Award-Winning Commander

The men, who were arrested in Doha last year, have been accused of spying on Qatar’s advanced submarines for Israel. These submarines were coated with special materials that enhanced their stealth capabilities, something that would be valuable for any navy in the world. 

According to reports, the submarines were being built in collaboration with an Italian shipbuilding firm.

In 2019, Commander Purnendu Tiwari was awarded the Pravasi Bharaitya Samman, the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians. In a post at the time, the Indian Embassy in Doha had said the award was given to Commander Tiwari for enhancing India’s image abroad. 

“The award is in recognition of his contribution towards capacity building for the Qatar Emiri Naval Forces, thereby promoting India-Qatar bilateral cooperation. He is the first Indian Armed Forces personnel to be awarded this highest honour meant for NRIs / PIOs,” the embassy had said. 

Commander Tiwari was the Managing Director of Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services and had commanded several warships when he was part of the Indian Navy.

‘Exploring All Options’

Bail petitions of the eight men had been rejected several times and the verdict against them was pronounced on Thursday by the Court of First Instance in Qatar.

Reacting to the verdict, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement, “We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement. We are in touch with the family members and the legal team, and we are exploring all legal options.”

“We attach high importance to this case, and have been following it closely. We will continue to extend all consular and legal assistance. We will also take up the verdict with Qatari authorities,” it added.

Dharamshala:

The Dalai Lama on Saturday congratulated jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi on winning the Nobel Peace Prize and said the award was also in recognition of the vital role women play in people’s lives. Mohammadi, 51, was awarded the prize on Friday in recognition of her tireless campaigning for women’s rights and democracy and against the death penalty.

In a letter to her on Saturday, the Tibetan spiritual leader said, “Today, the values of democracy, transparency, respect for human rights, and equality are increasingly recognised on every side as universal values, which can only benefit us all.”

“I have met and held discussions with previous Nobel laureates, including your sometime colleague, Mrs. Shirin Ebadi. I admire their efforts to overcome discrimination against women and improve society in a peaceful way. I believe that the award of this Nobel Peace Prize is also in recognition of the vital role women play in the lives of us all from the very day we are born,” the Dalai Lama wrote.

He said there is a growing desire for change in the world, a change that will see conflicts resolved through dialogue and non-violence.

“The foundation of such change will be kindness, compassion and human responsibility. I believe that this goal can be achieved through education based on a deeper appreciation of the oneness of humanity. Because we are so interconnected, this is a question of the well-being of us all,” he wrote.