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  "path": "/news/1994896/trump-seeks-to-bring-back-firing-squads-for-executions",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-25T02:42:28.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.dawn.com",
  "tags": [
    "World",
    "commuted"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON: The Justice Department said on Friday it is seeking to expand the use of the death penalty in federal capital cases and add the firing squad, electrocution and gas to lethal injection as methods of execution.\n\n“The prior administration failed in its duty to protect the American people by refusing to pursue and carry out the ultimate punishment against the most dangerous criminals, including terrorists, child murderers, and cop killers,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.\n\nUnder President Donald Trump, “the Department of Justice is once again enforcing the law and standing with victims”, Blanche said in a statement.\n\nThe Republican president ended a 17-year pause in federal executions in 2020, during his first term in office.\n\nThere were 13 executions by lethal injection during Trump’s final six months in power, more than under any US leader in 120 years.\n\nBefore leaving the White House in January last year, Democratic president Joe Biden, an opponent of the death penalty, commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row.\n\nTrump, on his first day in the White House for his second term, called for an expansion of the use of the death penalty “for the vilest crimes”. The death penalty is normally carried out at the state level in the United States, but the federal government can also seek execution for a limited set of crimes.\n\nFive US states currently authorise the firing squad for executions, but only one — South Carolina — has used the method in recent years.\n\nNine states allow electrocution, but this method has not been used since 2020.\n\nTwo states have executed inmates recently by nitrogen hypoxia, which involves pumping nitrogen gas into a face mask, causing the prisoner to suffocate.\n\n_Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2026_",
  "title": "Trump seeks to bring back  firing squads  for executions"
}