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Arkansas Supreme Court Decision Allows New DNA Testing in Case of the ​“West Memphis Three,” Convicted of Killing Three Children in 1993

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On April 18, 2024, the Arkansas Supreme Court decided 4-3 to reverse a 2022 lower court decision and allow genetic testing of crime scene evidence from the 1993 killing of three eight-year-old boys in West Memphis. The three men convicted in 1994 for the killings were released in 2011 after taking an Alford plea, in which they maintained their innocence but plead guilty to the crime, in exchange for 18 years’ time served and 10 years of a suspended sentence. 

Saudi executes Jordanian drug smuggler

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Public execution in Saudi Arabia
Public execution in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia on Thursday put to death a Jordanian convicted of drug trafficking, in the kingdom's 91st execution this year.

Maher al-Ghurabli had been found guilty of smuggling amphetamine pills into the kingdom, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Authorities carried out the sentence against him in the northwestern region of Tabuk, which borders his Jordanian homeland.

Most people put to death in Saudi Arabia are beheaded with a sword.

Ghurabli's is the 91st execution of a local or foreigner this year, according to an AFP tally.

The executions include 47 for "terrorism" on a single day, January 2.

Murder and drug trafficking cases account for the majority of Saudi executions.

Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia had the 3rd highest number of people put to death last year -- at least 158.

That was far behind Pakistan, which executed 326, and Saudi Arabia's regional rival Iran, which executed at least 977, said Amnesty, whose figures exclude secretive China.

Source: ahram.org, May 7, 2016

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Location: Saudi Arabia
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