MEDIA ADVISORY
For Immediate Release: 13 November 2002
CONTACT: Abe Bonowitz
800-973-6548
abe@cuadp.org
VIRGINIA EXECUTION PUTS US CITIZENS AT RISK
Prudent course of action would be commutation
A statement from Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (CUADP)
The State Department has issued a worldwide caution that the execution of
Aimal Khan Kasi could trigger retaliatory attacks against United States
interests abroad. If they recognize that this unnecessary killing may
inspire attacks against US citizens, then it is irresponsible of US
officials to allow the execution to take place. Kasi is scheduled to
be killed Thursday night (11/14/02) by the State of Virginia in revenge for
his 1993 murder of Frank Darling and Lansing Bennett, two employees of the
Central Intelligence Agency.
The United States should take a lesson from other countries which endure
constant threats of terrorism. The State of Israel is a prime
example. Israel has lived with terrorism for its entire history, and that
country retains the death penalty in law for only two crimes - Nazi war
crimes, and cases of "extreme terrorism." Yet in all its history the State
of Israel has conducted only one judicial execution - that of the Nazi
Adolph Eichmann.
Kasi, who committed a daring terrorist act against a Unites States
Government institution, is reported to have said that he hopes that fellow
Muslims do not retaliate when he is executed, and that he is not
encouraging any retaliation. This is nothing more than political
double-speak. In asking terrorists to not retaliate, Kasi has planted a
seed in the minds of anti-U.S. terrorists the world over -- in effect
inviting them to kill U.S. citizens in his name. By saying 'don't do it,'
he is really saying 'do it!'
This situation clearly illustrates the problem with using the death penalty
against terrorists. If Kasi had been sentenced to life without parole,
there would be one less reason for terrorists to act against citizens of
the United States. Instead, nine years later the scabs of the families of
Frank Darling and Lansing Bennett are being ripped open again, and the
stage is being set for the creation of even more victims families.
The execution of Aimal Khan Kasi is wrong for moral reasons, but it is even
more wrong for pragmatic reasons. Do not invite more terrorism against US
Citizens at home and abroad. Do not make Kasi a martyr worthy of
remembrance and yet another round of vengeance killing. If US government
officials were serious about stopping terrorism, they would stop this
execution.
SENT BY:
Abraham J. Bonowitz
Director, CUADP
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YES FRIENDS!
There is an Alternative to the Death Penalty
Citizens United for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(CUADP) works to end the death penalty in the United
States through aggressive campaigns of public education
and the promotion of tactical grassroots activism.
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Visit www.cuadp.org or call 800-973-6548
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