And Mr. Taseer had been particularly outspoken, calling for leniency for a Christian mother of four who was sentenced to death under the law, in a case that stemmed from a dispute in her village.
After Phillipos was convicted, the Globe weighed in with an editorial calling for leniency for him; there was no mention of the other defendants.
Alabama now stands alone, she said, in routinely allowing judges to override determinations from capital juries calling for leniency.
A number of those calling for leniency have referred to the Pussy Riot performers as "silly girls".
His co-defendants, two other royal marines who had been sent to scour a field after an air strike, were acquitted.Newspapers that had campaigned for the marines to be freed, slightly chastened, called for leniency.
Last week, Mr Putin, who was re-elected president in March, called for leniency towards the women during a visit to London for the Olympic Games.
Pierre Omidyar, the founder of PayPal's parent company eBay, called for leniency this week, saying they should have been charged with misdemeanors, not felonies.
While deploring the killing, former commander Major General Julian Thompson has called for leniency.
Some have spoken out against Mr. Putin and called for leniency in the "punk prayer" case.
The United States, Ethiopia's ally in the war against Islamist terrorism in the Horn of Africa, called for leniency.
She has repeatedly voiced support and called for leniency for the band on her MDNA world tour.
