amy: from new york, this is democracynow. crime, no terror and no stupid act will remain unanswered by the iranian people. they must know that they will be punished for their actions. amy: iran is accusing israel of assassinating its top nuclear scientist, in what

many view as an attempt to undercut joe biden's chances of reviving the landmark iran nuclear deal. we will get the latest. then death by firing squad and electrocution? as the trump administration braces to carry out five more executions before biden takes office, the justice department is also trying to expand the ways it can kill prisoners. we will speak to one of the world's most well-known anti-death penalty tivis. states shut down the death paltynd support by the amerin people for the death penalty is the lowest it has been in 30 years, there is an unprecedented state of generalxecutis at the nd of the trump administration and attorney general barr. amy: we will also look at the case of lisa montgomery, scheduled to be the first woman executed by the federal government in nearly 70 years. all that and more, coming

up. welcome to democracynow! democracynow.org, the quarantine report. hospitalizations have topped 90,000 for the first time. 4 million new cases were recorded in november, double the record set in october, bringing the u.s. death toll to 267,000. among the dead are over 100,000 residents and staffers in nursing homes. in nine states, more than one in a thousand people have died of coronavirus-related causes since march. experts are warning the worst is yet to come, and the u.s. could see some 4,000 deaths per day this winter. post-thanksgiving holiday travel could also lead to what the government's leading infectious disease

expert, doctor anthony fauci called a superimposed surge as health officials urge any travelers to get tested and take all necessary precautions to limit the spread of covid-19. in medical news, biotech company moderna is applying for emergency use authorization om the fd and drug administration today, the second vaccine maker after pfzier and biontech to do so. but as drug companies rush to get coronavirus vaccines approved and on the market, doctors and public health experts warn the distribution of a covid-19 vaccines in poorer, rural parts of the country will be a major challenge, due both to logistical hurdles and mistrust of the medical industry. in legal news, the supreme court sided with new york religious groups who were challenging coronavirus restrictions on gatherings. joe biden has named the first ever all-women white house communications team.

jen psaki, president obama's former communications director, will serve as white house press secretary. karine jean pierre, formerly with the political organizing group moveon, will be principal deputy press secretary. kate bedingfield, biden's campaign communications director, will move on to become the white house communications director. pili tobar, who previously worked for the immigration reform group america's voice will serve as deputy white house communications director. on vice president kamala harris's team, biden's former campaign advisers symone sanders and ashley etienne will become chief spokesperson and harris's communications director, respectively. biden is also expected to nominate two women of color to key economic positions. cecilia rouse, who is african american, a princeton labor economist, to chair the council of economic advisers, and neera tanden, head of the center for american progress, as director of the office of management and budget.

tanden would be the first woman of color and the first south asian woman in the role. but many progressives object to her playing a role in the incoming administration, citing her organization's cozy relationship with corporate funders, her record of antagonizing and undermining progressive democrats and her hawkish foreign policy positions. meanwhile, two alums from the world's largest asset manager, blackrock, will hold key economic positions. brian deese, a current executive at the investment giant, will be biden's pick for the national economic council. and wally adeyemo, senior international economic adviser under obama, will act as janet yellen's top deputy at the treasury department. climate activists have condemned the picks due to blackrock's funding of fossil fuel companies, among other issues. joe biden is currently recovering from fracturing his foot while playing with his dog. president trump's efforts to

overturn the election results appear to be exhausted as he faced a string of defeats over the weekend. lawsuits in pennsylvania were rejected, both by the state's supreme court and a federal appeals court. and a recount in two liberal wisconsin counties, ordered by the trump campaign, cemented biden's victory there. trump said for the first time he'll leave office if the electoral college votes for joe biden, even as trump refuses to concede the election, which biden won in both the electoral college and popular votes by wide margins. trump was questioned by reporters thursday over his refusal to concede, including by reuters white house reporter jeff mason, whom trump then attacked. >> between you people. don't talk to me that way. you are just a lightweight. i'm the president of the united states. don't ever talk to the president that way. amy: in may, trump mocked mason for refusing to take

off his mask while asking him a question at a press -- at a news conference. meanwhile, trump has turned on georgia's republican governor brian kemp, as the state gears up for two senate run-offs that will determine control of the u.s. senate. trump said he was ashamed that he endorsed kemp, as he ranted on fox news about losing the georgia vote . iran held a state funeral today for mohsen fakhrizadeh, a top nuclear scientist who was assassinated while driving on a highway outside of tehran on friday. iran accused israel of orchestrating the killing, which iran says may have been conducted by an automatic remote-controlled machine gun placed inside an empty vehicle. iranian president hassan rouhani said iran will retaliate at the quote, proper time. >> this brutal and cowardly terror attack showed that our enemies have experienced

weeks of anxiety, whethey feel theirtress has be reduced and global conditions are changing. amy: many analysts say the assassination of the iranian scientist was designed to make it harder for president-elect joe biden to rejoin the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with iran, which president trump withdrew from in 2018. we'll have more on iran after headlines. ethiopia's prime minister said saturday his military had taken complete control of the capital of the northern tigray region, capping a three-week offensive against separatists that forced tens of thousands to flee to sudan amid reports of mass atrocities. ethiopian prime minister iy ahmed, who wothe nobepeace prize in 2019, refused international demands for talks with the tigray people's liberation front. members of that group accused ethiopia's military of shelling heavily populated areas of the capital, mekele.

a warning to our listeners -- iran held a state funeral today for their top nuclear scientist to was assassinated while driving on a highwayutside of tehran friday. iran accused israel of conducting the assassination. iranian president hassan rouhani said iran will retaliate at the quote, proper time. many analysts say the assassination of the iranian scientist was designed to make it harder for biden to rejoin the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with -- which president trump withdrew from. we will have more on this after headlines. a warning to our listeners -- and --s

the united nations says at least 110 people were killed .n the massacre at least 30 of the victims were reportedly beheaded. no group has claimed responsibility, but boko haram and islamic state west africa province are active in the area. in other news from nigeria, the nigerian army has admitted its soldiers were armed with live ammunition when they opened fire on protesters at an october 20th demonstration in lagos. 12 peaceful protesters were killed in the assault at the lekki toll gate as they demanded authorities disband the notorious police unit known as the special -- known as sars, the special anti-robbery squad. in france, public opposition to a highly contested new security law is mounting after recent high-profile incidents of police violence. the law would ban the publication of images of police officers and increase police powers. images of french police officers beating black music

producer michel zecler, while hurling racial epithets at him, went viral last week. president emanuel macron said the images shamed france. the officers have been suspended and could face charges. on saturday, award-winning syrian photojournalist ameer alhalbi was taken to the hospital with a broken nose and other injuries after police assaulted him while he was covering a protest opposing the new law. the french prime minister said thursday, the wording of the new law would be reviewed. in india, thousands of farmers continue to protest for the fifth straight day, against prime minister narendra modi's move to deregulate agricultural markets. opponents say the neo-liberal policy is a boon to corporations, and repeals key labor and farm price protections that could have a devastating impact on the livelihood of farmers. the ongoing protests come after an estimated 250 million workers, farmers and

their allies across india participated thursday in what is believed to be the largest organized strike in history. in thailand, protests continued, asking for the resignation of the prime minister. five leaders in the youth led pro-democracy movement police today as they faced charges related to defaming the monarchy. on sunday, thousands marched to a military barracks to demand military power be brought fully under government control. >> all of the king's guard should be brought under the government rule. the government the people elected. an army should belong to the people, not the king. amy: meanwhile, protesters are warning of a possible military coup attempt, which they say they will do everything they can to oppose. thailand has seen many coups

over the years, most recently in 2014, which installed the current prime minister. maher al-akhras, a palestinian man who went on a 103-day hunger strike against his imprisonment without charge, was released thursday by israeli authorities. he told reporters quote "m freedom is the freedom of my people, and we have won over the occupation with our will and determination." canada banned the export of some medications to the u.s. before a new rule takes effect today, allowing u.s. pharmacists to import canadian drugs in bulk. canada enacted the ban to prevent prescription shortages on its own soil. a major pharmaceutical lobbying group is suing over the new rule, saying the federal government cannot pass off the responsibility of ensuring the safety and cost-effectiveness of imported drugs to state authorities. the justice department has issued a new rule that could allow federal executions to take place by firing squad,

electrocution or poison gas starting in december. it's not clear whether any methods other than lethal injection would be used for the three executions scheduled after the new rule -- scheduled in january, after the new rule takes effect. joe biden said during campaigning he now supports eliminating the federal death penalty despite previously helping to expand it. we'll have more on this later in the broadcast. anti-deathing penalty activist. in environmental news, the army corps of engineers denied a key permit for the pebble mine, likely putting an end to the proposed multibillion-dollar copper and gold mine in alaska that would have been among the world's largest. the project was determined to be contrary to the public interest and not in compliance with the clean water act. environmentalists and local indigenous groups have long fought against the mine, which they say would have poisoned their communities and devastated bristol bay's salmon fishery.

president trump announced on twitter he pardoned his former national security advisor michael flynn. flynn has twice pleaded guilty in court to lying to the fbi about his communications with the russian ambassador to the u.s. in 2016. flynn also admitted to lying about his lobbying for turkey, which a biden administration justice department could still decide to pursue. and thousands of amazon workers participated in a global action on black friday, demanding the retail -- demanding fair wages, hazard pay during the and for amazon to start paying taxes. social and climate justice groups also joined the make amazon pay actions, which took place across 15 countries including the u.s., mexico, brazil, the philippines, germany and poland. among several other demands are for amazon to commit to better environmental practices and to allow

workers to unionize. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. iran's top nuclear scientist was assassinated while driving on a highway outside of tehran on friday. iran accused israel of orchestrating the killing of mohsen fakhrizadeh, who reportedly led iran's nuclear program. a state funeral was held today in tehran where photographs of him were displayed next to iranian commander qassim suleimani who was assassinated in a u.s. drone strike in baghdad 10 months ago. the iranian defense minister, amir hatami spoke at the funeral. that nonemy knows crime, no terror and no stupid act will remain unanswered by the iranian people, and we will severely pursue the criminals. they must know that they will be punished for their

actions. statesminal united has thousands of nuclear weapons and the criminal zionist regime has hundreds of nuclear weapons. what are these weapons for? are they are used as decor in your home? amy: iran's foreign minister mohammad javad zarif has described the killing of the top nuclear scientist as an act of state terror. conflicting details have emerged about how he died. iranian state media initially said gunmen ambushed his car in the countryside. but now, a top iranian official says he was killed by an automatic remote-controlled machine-gun placed inside in an empty vehicle. -- placed inside an empty vehicle. israel has long been accused of targeting iranian nuclear scientists. between 2010 and 2012, four iranian nuclear scientists were assassinated. many alysts say friday's assassination was designed to make it harder for president-elect joe biden to rejoin the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with iran,

which president trump withdrew from in 2018. the killing comes just weeks -- the assassination comes just weeks after trump privately inquired if he could bomb iran's main nuclear site prior to leaving office. iran hasong mainined its clear prram is f peaceful purposes. earlr this month, international inspectors reported iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile is growing again but that the uranium being enrhed at aevel suitle for nuclear per plants, t nuclear weapon we go now to negar mortazavi. she is an iranian-american journalist and political analyst. she is host of the iran podcast. we welcome you to democracy now! can you start by talking about the significance of this assassination, and the fact that iran is accusing israel, and israel has not commented. negar: as you said, this is

not the first nuclear scientist in iran being assassinated. israel has always denied involvement but it is the only country with both the motivation and the capability to conduct such attacks. a top person in the nuclear and fence infrastructure of iran, he was well guarded. the country knew he was a target. prime minister named him in a presentation to years ago. he said remember this name. security services new he would be a potential target for the israelis. he was well guarded. the fact that this operation was successfully launched. first it was an ambush and now there is talk of an automatic weapon. we are not sure how exactly it unfolded, but it was successful and he is dead now. it was a blow to iran's

security system and, i believe, a political move to provoke iran into a violent retaliation, and basically pull iran into a wider military conflict with the united states, and complicate future negotiations between tehran and washington when president-elect biden enters office. amy: can you talk about whether you believe the united states is involved with this, too? as i just pointed out, we did report earlier that president trump had asked his top military officials tophey could bomb the nuclear site in iran before he left office, but what kind of complicity do you feel there was, here? negar: it is hard to say or sure, and we have not heard

any confirmation from israel or the united states, but there has been some travel back and forth by mike pompeo in the region. he was meeting with israelis and saudi's. this was the pattern the there was also some traveling back and forth into meetings between mike pompeo and the trump administration's close allies in the middle east. i'm not sure if we are ever going to know, but i would not rule it out that this was at least done with a green light and approval of the trump administration. pompeo, like mike always lking for a military confrontation with iran or a strike on iran's nuclear sites, and this is their final weeks in office. i would not rule it out that this came with at least a nod or approval from the united states.

amy: talk about how iran is responding inside. across the political spectrum. whoe like rouhani, recognized that as trump comes to the end of his term, and at all levels, domestically and internationally, is trying to reinforce what he has done. whether we are talking about withdrawal from the claimant accord and trying to prevent joe biden from rejoining, to withdrawing from the iranian nuclear deal. this is iranian president rouhani, speaking following the assassination. this brutal and cowardly thatr attack showed our enemies have showed weeks of asked -- weeks of exam d when they feel stress being reduced and the globe -- the world is changg. and i would like to go

back to 2018 when the israeli prime minister called out fakhrizadeh as the director of iran's nuclear weapons project and urged people to remember that name. >> iran devised a plan to do two things. first, to preserve nuclear know-how. and second, to further develop its nuclear weapons related capabilities. that plan came directly from iran's top leadership. a key part of the plan was to form new organizations to continue the work. izadehs how dr. fakhr put it. remember that name. amy: your response, negar? negar: the weapons-related part of iran's nuclear program was stopped somewhere around 2003.

watchdogthe u.n. and the state department confirming that iran no longer had a weapons related program. this is something benjamin netanyahu alleges but other international entities have confirmed -- haven't confirmed it. there is a national debate ongoing in iran. one main argument is that because iran does not retaliate, if iran does not respond to such an the cycle of, assassination will continue with impunity. we see how israel has been carrying these out with impunity. there is another argument, that is recognizing that this might be a trap set by netanyahu, to basically prevent future diplomacy to pull iran into a military conflict and that iranians should be aware and not take

the bait. this is something i recognize in president rouhani's statement. --hear the same line that diplomacy camp is expecting more condemnation from the international community. they haven't been very happy from statements that came from the european union. they expect the international community to call this what it is, an assassination and terrorism and to condemn it with strong condemnation. if such condemnation continues, it would give strength to that argument that iran should not act way, and retaliate in a that netanyahu has been trying to provoke. there were also talks of harsh revenge, retaliation, and supreme leader even said under schmidt for the perpetrators of this assassination. amy: which side do you think will prevail within iran?

negar: i don't think the retaliation will be that provocative. the president has said it will be done in a timely manner. that means they could drag it, and if they do drag it, the only silver lining is that iran can use this as leverage when the biden administration comes in. the pro-diplomacy camp can go and say that was coained and you need to make this deal fast for me runs out. joe we heard from the biden orbit, that may be sanctions put on by the trump administration should be used as leverage when negotiations with iran appen, and to delay return to the nuclear deal, which i don't think is a good idea. i think the biden administration should prioritize returning to the nuclear deal and make it fast and clean, to continue

following negotiations. ideaand what about the that the imeu is putting on december 27, 2008, israel launched a massive 22 day military assault on the gaza strip. the ferocity of the attack was unprecedented in the more than six decade old conflict, killing some 1400 palestinians, most of them civilian. -- in thes aftermath of that, the u.n. found strong evidence of war crimes and crimes against amenity committed by both the israeli military and palestinian relations -- palestinian militias. this also a critical period, where you had barack obama elected, but he was just about to take office, and a tremendous amount of

attention was being paid to that, as in this lame-duck period in the united states. negar: i agree. i think there can be some similarities. the case between iran and israel is difference -- is different because we already have the deal in place with the united states. under barack obama, when negotiations were still ongoing and a deal with potentially to be made, netanyahtried everything possible to provoke iran to prevent negotiations and even made a speech at the u.s. congress, trying to prevent the nuclear negotiations from succeeding, and he failed. right now with a biden administration, the strength of this administration would be that there is already a deal in place, and the iranians are still abiding by it to somextent and ere arother parti, it was a multilateral deal, who are still in the deal. that would make it easier for this incoming

administration to rejoin and continue this diplomacy with iran, and it makes it harder and more complicated for israel to try and sabotage the return to the deal and future diplomacy. i think these are ways that netanyahu has ud in the past, to try and provoke and sabotage, and he will probably continue. i don't think this will be the last. there are still seven weeks until the end of the trump administration. i would not be surprised if there are other events coming up. amy: the effect of the massive set of sanctions that president trump cumulatively has put in place at this point on the people of iran. main and foremost pressure is on the iranian people. the civil society is impacted. working class, middle class. ordinary irani ends are paying the price -- ordinary iranians are paying the

price. food, medicine, it is rare to find an scarce. the main pressure has been on the iranian people. any kind of military manyict will have -- casualties will be civilian as we saw with iran trying avenge their -- any kind of retaliation or military conflict will eventually have casualties across the region. amy: of course this, all coming at the time of the pandemic. i want to thank you very much for being with us. negar mortazavi. iranian-american journalist and political analyst. host of the iran podcast. up next, death by firing squad, poison gas or electrocution? -- the justice department is trying to expand the number of ways it can kill prisoners.

we will be joined by sister helen. stay with us. [music break] ♪

amy: this is democracy now! the quaranne report. death by firing squad, electrocution or poison gas? under a new rule filed by the trump administration, these methods can now be used to carry out executions for federal death sentences in addition to lethal injection. the amendment to the manner of federal executions rule was entered friday into the federal register and goes into effect christmas eve, that is december 24. this comes as the trump administration has already executed eight people in the past five months. earlier this month, it executed orlando hall at the federal penitentiary in terre haute, indiana. hall was an african-american

man sentenced to die by an all-white jury. prior to this year, the federal government had not executed anybody since 2003, 17 years ago. now, in what critics say is a dramatic deviation from historical practices, five more people are scheduled to be executed during trump's final weeks in office, three of them just days before president-elect joe biden is inaugurated, including the first woman in nearly 70 years. the death penalty information center reports it has been more than a century since a federal execution was conducted during a lame duck presidency, in 1889 during the outgoing administration of grover cleveland. the justice department has not said yet whether it will try to use any methods other than lethal injection for the three executions it scheduled after the new rule takes effect. president-elect joe biden said during the election campaign he now supports eliminating the federal death penalty. biden co-authored

legislation in 1990 that expanded the federal death penalty. for more, we are joined by sister helen prejean, one of the world's most well-known anti-death penalty activists. the author of the best-selling book, "dead man walking: an eyewitness account of the death penalty." her most recent book, "river of fire: my spiritual journey." also with us, sandra babcock, faculty director of the cornell center on the death penalty worldwide. we welcome you both back to democracy now! sister helen prejean. this was filed on friday. the trump administration, the federal government can kill prisoners, expanding it to poison gas, firing squad or electrocution. can you respond? sister helen: i think the reason they are doing that is they want to make sure they can expedite these

executions without any court cases about lethal injection. there have been questions about lethal injections and drugs that have been used. this is the fault of the supreme courby the way, which is -- which has allowed states to experiment widely with drugs to kill people, which has resulted in botched executions. it may also come from the ,act that autopsy reports 200 of them, of those who have been leally injected showed that there was a massive amount of fluid in their lungs, which meant they were drowning. i think it is the callous brute force of the mentality of the trump administration, that he just believes that he can use force and kill people. he can use violence and force to make his point. need for these executions to happen. to me, it just reveals a

fundamental flaw, which has been dealt to the death penalty from the time that the supreme court put that back, in 1976. here is the fundamental flaw, and the federal executions we see now really exemplifies it. there was a week criteria -- weak criteria that only the worst of the worst should be killed, and nobody really knows what that means. there has been wide latitude in determining worst of the worst. even the assumption that out of all the ordinary murders, whatever that means, there are some who could be targeted as, but this is the worst of the worst. criteria, it is coupled with that you give complete discretion to the prosecutors. it is a fact that prosecutors do not seek death -- that if prosecutors

do not seek death, people don't die from executions. here you now have the jurisdiction of the federal government, attorney general barr, who has the power to seek death, and pursuing it. all he has to do is get a signal from trump, and there has been no way to stop him. ae fundamental flaw is fuzzy criteria that was never clear in the first place, coupled with discretion of prosecutors, and it exemplifies exactly why we need to shut the death penalty down. you can't let frail politically driven individuals decide you, you and you are going to die for whatever political objective they have in mind. amy: sandra babcock, if you could also respond to the trump administration quietly attempting to expand the ways they can kill prisoners to poison gas,

electrocution, and firing squad. it is a process of violence we are seeing right now. one of the things that is so hard to digest is that the people they are choosing to subject to these methods of as helen are not just said, the worst of the worst. they are the broken of the broken. lisa montgomery is a good example of that. she is somebody the federal government intends to execute on january 12, and she was a victim of incensed rape-- of incest, gang , child trafficking, unimaginable violence her entire life before she committed the crime for which she was sentenced to death. she is profoundly mentally ill. she began to dissociate when

she was a teenager, when her stepfather built her a special room off the side of their trailer so he and his buddies could go in and rape her. her mother sold her to the plumber and electrician, told her she had to earn her keep. she obtained services after these men raped lisa. lisa was left from these experiences, as somebody who has the most fragile grip on reality, because she had to escape from her reality in order to survive. this is the kind of person that william barr intends to put to death in january. why the rush to execute someone like lisa montgomery, among all of these other people? at to me, illustrates the brutality of what we are witnessing right now. amy: this would be the first woman executed in 70 years.

the examples of her own life history, not brought up at the trial. why? sandra: they weren't brought up, because she was represented by a male defense team that had never been trained in did not know how to interview a woman. she was left curled in a fetal position on the floor of her prison cell during one of the interviews, a couple of the interviews that her lawyer conducted with her. the jury never heard about the scope of her abuse, or the impact that it had. the prosecutors trivialized it. they called it the abuse excuse. this is not an excuse. anybody who has been e victim of sexual violence, and the kind of sexual torture that lisa montgomery endured, knows that this is not something that can be trivialized. this has lifelong consequences, and for lisa, it meant she is somebody who is broken.

she is the most broken of the broken. she is somebody who has a very difficult time understanding what is real and what is not, because of what she endured. so the people who were supposed to defend her did not do their job, and as a result, she is now scheduled to be executed at a time -- for a crime that no other woman had ever been executed for in this entire country. we know there are at least 16 women who have committed very similar crimes, and prosecutors in those cases recognized that these are crimes that are the product of trauma and mental illness. but the federal government under albert gonzalez decided they were going to seek the death penalty in this case. she really is unique, and she really is not the kind of person the death penalty was intended for. amy: eamon -- even former

precutors are saying she should not be put to death. sandra: that's right. there are a numberf former prosecutors who have put -- you have come forward former sex crime prosecutors, people who have tried to put away the criminals who raped lisa, and no one advert -- no one ever intervened. her sister was taken out of the home, but lisa was left there. amy: let me read the letter sent to president trump by more than 40 current and former prosecutors, in support of lisa montgomery. they write quote, our experience prosecuting human traffickers in those who commit sex crimes against children has given us a unique understanding of the profound physical and psychological harm that victims like lisa suffer. in this case, mental health professionals have concluded the sexual violence and cruelty she suffered was directly related to the crime she committed. they also diagnosed lisa with organic brain damage

and serious mental illness that requires her to be heavily medicated at all times. a history of being victimized is not an abuse excuse as the jury was told. we view this kind of evidence is critically relevant to determining the appropriate punishment for a serious crime. again, that was a letter, written by former prosecutors. sandra: that's right. there was also a letter from o prosecutors who had prosecuted women are virtually identical crimes, who also said these are crimes that are committed by women who are profoundly mentally ill, and we recognize that, and that is why we did not seek the death penalty in those cases. this is a really different case, amy. we don't see these kinds of people coming out and callingor commutation or mercy. we don't see antiviolence activists, the people who have spent their entire

lifetimes combating domestic violence committed against women, child sex trafficking, the kind of people who spent their lives fighting against child sex traffickers, are coming out because these are the people who know what damage this does to a child, and to a person who has survived this. it is lifelong trauma that cannot be overcome, without the kind of counseling that lisa montgomery never received. she is now very mentally ill. her mental illness is controlled by a complex regimen of antipsychotic medication. since she learned of her education -- of h execution date, her mental health is deteriorating daily. it took away her underwear after she was ld she had an execution date, which for a trauma survivor of sexual violence, somebody who was a victim of sexual violence, put her over the edge.

she has been told she is going to be transferred to an all male prison where she will be executed. she cannot even be in a room with a man without breaking out into hes, and they intend to transfer her to an all male prison. that in itself is torture. even setting aside the government's plan to subject people to poison gas. even if you take lisa monk marie to an all male prison to subject her to lethal injection, that is torture -- lisa montgomery to an all male prison to subject her to lethal injection, that is torture. all they are asking for is that her sentence be commuted to life in prison without the possibility of parole. amy: she was sentenced after the killing of 23-year-old eight month pregnant woman. she explained what she did -- explain what she did. sandra: she killed a woman who was pregnant.

this came aftelisa herself had been subjected to a coerced sterilization procedure, by her stepbrother, whom she had married at her mother's instigation. she was pressured into the erilization when she was very mentally ill. after that happened, her mental illness became worse and worse until she was completely psychotic. in the grips of this psychosis, she befriended bobby joe. she killed her, she carved the fetus out of the woman's abdomen and took it home and pretended it was our own child -- it was her own child and took care of it. this is the kind of crime that is so unbelievably tragic, and nothing that i'm saying diminishes that tragedy. but we have to understand that a crime like this cannot be separated from lisa montgomery's

experiences, as a profoundly mentally ill person, who was involuntarily sterilized and was brutalized for her entire le. this is not an abuse excuse, as the prosecutors said. this is an excellent nation. this helps a student -- this is an explanation. we are asking she should not be punished. we are saying this is not the kind of person who should be exterminated from the human race. amy: we are going to take a break, and then come back to this discussion. i want to thank sandra babcock for joining us, faculty director of the cornell center on the death penalty worldwide. we will continue with sister helen prejean. we will be looking at the four other executions that are scheduled. again, five executions scheduled in the lame-duck period between presidencies. the last time this happened

was over a century ago. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: lisa montgomery is facing federal execution on january 12. the execution was put off because her lawyers had covid. this is -- this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i am amy goodman. --we look further at the on december 10, international human rights day, the federal government

plans to kill a 40-year-old black man named brandon bernard. he was 18 years old when he was allegedly an accomplice to a murder of a young, white couple. during his trial, his attorneys didn't make opening statements. at the penalty stage, they called no witnesses. out of the 12 jurors, all but one was white. now, 5 of the jurors say they think bernard should be not be executed. a former assistant u.s. attorney who helped secure his death sentence wrote in the indianapolis star quote "executing brandon would be a terrible stain on the nation's honor." that is one of the prosecutors who prosecuted him. on the day after bernard is set to die, alfred bourgeois, another black man, is scheduled to be federally executed on december 11. on january 12th, lisa montgomery is scheduled the woman to be federally first executed in nearly 70 years. the trump administration has rejected her request for a reprieve. on january 14th, corey johnson, another black man is set to be put to death. according to johnson's attorneys, he has an iq of

69, which means he is below the standard the supreme court used to determine if an execution would be cruel and unusual punishment. and on january 15, martin luther king jr.'s birthday, the federal government is expected to execute dustin higgs, another black man, who was sentenced to die for his role in the murder of three women, even though he did not kill them, under the so-called law of parties theory. we continue with sister helen prejean. sister helen prejean, if you can comment on this unprecedented -- not in 100 years has a lame dunk -- has a lame-duck executed one person, let alone five. shows helen: it just when you give absolute power over life and death to government officials, they can really do what they want.

one interesting thing about grover cleveland, in the lame-duck time when he executed, he had once been a andiff in new york, carried out executions. he had it in his blood. -- i've to happen accompanied six people to executions. it is this absolute power to take a human being he was alive, and make the inscrutable decisions all along the wood -- human being who is alive, and make these inscrutable decisions all along the way. being able to pinpoint the worst of the worst, either by their carrier -- either by their character, their very nature, or by what they have done, to determine they are in a special category. you can distinguish them,

and then to believe that you can set up a system of the jury and trial, and the basic flaw in all these things is that in trial, you are supposed to have an adversarial way of coming to truth. so you have prosecutors that present, forensic evidence, here is the scenario. but you are supposed to have defense. you are supposed to be able thisy to this jury, side, the whole story of the person who did the crime. you always have to look at culpability, like lisa montgomery. culpability of somebody who is psychotic and was bralized and tortured her entire life, and then pinpointing, identifying her by the cri she should be killed. it is so flawed, and the suffering is so great. here is why i wrote dead man

walking, and here is why i just wrote river of fire, waking up to these injustices and being an active citizen, doing some thing about it. all of this is a sacred ritual. the public is not going to be anywhere near and cannot be near lisa mtgomery and what she is suffering now, what it will mean when she is put in an all-male prison. if we didn't have people like democracy now!, if we didn't have the media or witnesses and activists seeing these things, the people would just go that is a terrible crime and she deserves to die. it is such a superficial then veiled way of approaching a deeply moral veiled wayin of approaching a deeply moral issue. we've got to find an alternative, which in fact the people are doing. we are shutting down the death penalty in states.

we are down to 2% of counties where prosecutors still somewhat go after the death penalty. side-by-side with other issecutors, because it up to the discrepancy of the person to choose death or not. take brandon bernard. i got involved with this case. two times now, i've been able to be on conference calls with him and with his lawyers, trying to save his life. he described -- this would be like three fridays ago. he has grown up. -- he has grown up on death row in terre haute. he has expressed remorse. can't even imagine, he is just a young kid when this crime happened of these people being killed. he did play some part in it, but anybody who knows

brandon knows he would never have consented to killing people as what happened. at his trial, supposedly an expert on future dangerousness, which has widely been debunked as totally unpredictable. the jury was told he was a leader of a gang. he wasn't a leader, he was a low guy on the totem pole. they have an image of him as this mastermind, this leader who gave all the direction to these people being killed. let's get back to three or four fridays ago. a regular day in his life. along with everyone at the prison. amy: 30 seconds left. sister helen: guards come to his door, they don't say a word, they put handcuffs on him, walking down the hall where the warden is waiting

and saysere is the warrant for your death, you will be de at this date. his whole life is torture. we have to get the word out to the american people, shut this down. amy: sister helen, before we go, i wanted to ask you about someone else you have worked with over the years, the anti-death penalty activist who died earlier this month at the age of 73, cofounded the group journey of hope and partnered with you to campaign against the death penalty. his grandmother was murdered by a 15-year-old, paula cooper who was later convicted and sentenced to death, making her the youngest person on death row. he was among those who pleaded for here life to be spared. he spoke on democracy now! >> i knew from that moment on, whenever i with nick about my grandmother again, i would no longer picture how she died but how she

lived, what she stood for and what she believed in. the beautiful wonderful person she was. i knew it was something to be shared with other people. amy: that was 2013. in fact, he was able to help get paula cooper off of death row, although she would ultimate -- although she would ultimately take her own life. your final thoughts? sister helen: he is one more example of someone who instead of being dehumanized by violence that happened to his beloved grandmother, took that courage that she had and brought it into light and fought for it his whole life to end the death penalty. he was the one waiting for paul cooper -- for paula cooper when she was released from prison. he believed in life and that all human beings could be redeemed. amy: sister helen prejean, thank you so much for being with us. as we end today's show, a

very happy birthday to deena guzder! democracy now! is produced with renee feltz, mike burke, deena guzder, libby rainey, nermeen shaikh, maria taracena, carla wills, tami woronoff, charina nadura, sam alcoff, tey marie astudillo, john hamilton, robby karran, hany massoud and adriano contreras. . last week the

news that had been kept secret for nearly three months finally for. israeli is highest ranking catholic the man who rose to be the best you can the most powerful cleric had been convicted sexual crimes against two thirteen year old