The European Union issued a statement condemning the United States for its plans to resume executing federal death row inmates starting July 13, 2020. “The European Union strongly opposes the decision of the United States Department of Justice to resume the federal death penalty after a 17-year hiatus,” the EU spokesperson said in a Friday statement. “We urge the U.S. administration to reconsider and not proceed with the federal executions due to take place starting on 13 July.” “This decision runs counter to the overall trend in the United States and worldwide to abolish the death penalty, either by law or in practice,” the statement continued, adding that the EU sees the death penalty as a “cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment” and opposes it “at all times in all circumstances.”
Earlene Peterson, whose daughter and granddaughter were killed by Daniel Lee (the first inmate set to executed), said that despite knowing he is guilty, she doesn’t want the government to move forward with the execution. Peterson sent a video to President Trump, whom she said she supports, asking him to commute the sentence to life in prison. “We were hopeful that they had heard us and maybe listened to us, but that’s not what they have done,” Peterson told the Wall Street Journal. “Putting Daniel Lee to death would dishonor my whole family. That’s not how we live our lives.”