U.S. Muslim groups hail Moussaoui verdict

[Bronx33]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12633625/

Muslim-American groups reacted favorably to Thursday’s formal sentencing of convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, some seeing it as an example of impartial American justice, an opportunity for closure and the end of an unhappy chapter in Muslim-American relations in the post-9/11 world.

Following the jury's recommendation, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema sentenced Moussaoui to six life terms without the chance of parole.

“Honestly, we haven't been commenting on the case because we don’t see him as representing Muslims,” said Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights and advocacy group.


“Moussaoui’s actions were clearly against the teaching of Islam,” she said. “We can say that we’re hoping the end of this trial will bring closure for the families; it’s been a very difficult time for them. We’ve always advocated that anyone involved in terrorism should be punished to the law’s full extent. If the jury decided that life in prison is a fair verdict, then we respect that.”

For some, Moussaoui’s sentence of life in prison was justified despite his relatively marginal role in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“The people in the community in the greater Detroit area feel it was a fair trial, that the American judicial system has worked,” said Eide al-Awan, interfaith outreach director of the Islamic Center of America, the Detroit-based Islamic resource center housing the largest mosque in the United States.

‘Suffer the consequences’
“Whether it was a matter of life in prison or the death penalty would have been fine with the community,” he said. “They realize the impact of what this man was a part of. Although the jury felt he wasn’t privy to all the information of the attacks, he should have to suffer the consequences, whatever the consequences may be.”



Al-Awan said the life sentence showed other nations the basic fairness of the American judicial system, and undercut any bid on Moussaoui’s part to be executed and perceived as a martyr for Islamic or terrorist causes.

“They’ve taken the air out of that balloon,” al-Awan said.

"This sends a message all over the world that America is a just country and doesn’t have to put a person to death in order to impart the consequences for terrorism.”



Well Ahmed you might want to addess the american people about all the quotes (from the koran) he used to justify his actions.

[Rascal]

Personally I'm glad they didn't kill. Better to not let him be a martyr and have a slow insignificant life/death.

[spdirty]

Im a big death penalty advocate. I believe the country should follow Texas' lead and put it on expressway. But in this guys case, I can accept his fate. 23 hours trapped in a cell, everyday for the rest of his life. The only difference I'd make is that his cell is in a basement, and he is trapped in there 24/7 with no way to even see sunlight. His meals consist of pork every single day. And if he doesnt eat, he can starve to death. Oh, and once a year he gets the crap beaten out of him. Like an anniversary present.

That would be what Id want but we all can't have it the way we want.

[Bronx33]

Originally Posted by spdirty

Im a big death penalty advocate. I believe the country should follow Texas' lead and put it on expressway. But in this guys case, I can accept his fate. 23 hours trapped in a cell, everyday for the rest of his life. The only difference I'd make is that his cell is in a basement, and he is trapped in there 24/7 with no way to even see sunlight. His meals consist of pork every single day. And if he doesnt eat, he can starve to death. Oh, and once a year he gets the crap beaten out of him. Like an anniversary present.

That would be what Id want but we all can't have it the way we want.

Every 9/11

[Rascal]

I use to advocate death penalty but I don't think I can anymore.

Even one innocent person is too much of a risk.

[spdirty]

Originally Posted by Rascal

I use to advocate death penalty but I don't think I can anymore.

Even one innocent person is too much of a risk.

Even when you get confessions?

[defenseman]

First of all, the pundits in the middle east would have spun the messouai verdict in an attempt to make it look favorable to them. So, that said, who gives two s**ts what they say. Second, dead or alive. I can see a reason for both. I do support the death penalty, HOWEVER, considering what this man will endure for the next 6 months, let alone, years, my guess is the US Government will be able to squeeze alot of information out of him to their advantage. Let the squeezing begin, considering what he has to look forward to, I would choose death myself...dman

[Hogan11]

I'm pretty much pro death all the way down the line.

That said, I agree with the DMan that the verdict would've been spun either way...it simply didn't matter.

I'm unconcerned really...he got life inprisonment...it's probably only a matter of time before someone whacks him out on the inside anyways. It's the last you'll hear about this psychotic goof till that happens.....thank God.

[defenseman]

Keep in mind, where he is going, He has NO EYE CONTACT with any other prisoner, let alone physical contact. The only group possibly able to take him out is the law enforcement folks themselves. My guess? he will try to get them to kill him , one way or the other and attempt to take a few with him while he is at it. However, being shackled 24 hours a day , makes it pretty tough...dman

[Hogan11]

If they want to...they'll get to him, regardless.

[defenseman]

As long as they get the information out of him PRIOR to his demise, I could give two s**ts what they do with him...dman

[W*GS]

Originally Posted by spdirty

Even when you get confessions?

Unfortunately for you, not all confessions are 100% true.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

[SoCalBronco]

This is actually much worse for him. There was a great article in the L.A. Times about just how terrible the "SuperMax" prison in Florence, Colorado (where he'll be going) is. I'll try to find it and post it.

EDIT: Here is the article.

The Slow Rot at Supermax
At Moussaoui's future home in Florence, Colo., inmates are reportedly not merely punished, but incapacitated and broken down.
By Richard A. Serrano, Times Staff Writer
May 5, 2006


ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Halfway through the trial, prison expert James E. Aiken looked straight at jurors and told them what Zacarias Moussaoui could expect if they sent him away for the rest of his life.

"I have seen them rot," he said. "They rot."

ADVERTISEMENT
Aiken was describing what happens to the nation's highest-risk prisoners after they settle in at the federal government's maximum-security prison in Florence, Colo., known as Supermax.

Moussaoui was formally sentenced Thursday to life in prison after a federal jury rejected a death sentence for the admitted Sept. 11 conspirator.

Officials at the Federal Bureau of Prisons said that Moussaoui was destined for the facility high in the Colorado Rockies.

Already there is a veritable "bombers' row" — Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center blast; Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski; Terry L. Nichols, an accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing; Richard Reid, the so-called shoe bomber who Moussaoui testified was to join him in another Al Qaeda hijacking; and Eric Rudolph, who bombed abortion clinics and the Atlanta Olympics.

All, like Moussaoui, are serving life without parole — spending their days in prison wings that are partly underground. They exist alone in soundproof cells as small as 7 feet by 12 feet, with a concrete-poured desk, bed and stool, a small shower and sink, and a TV that offers religious and anger-management programs.

They are locked down 23 hours a day.

Larry Homenick, a former U.S. marshal who has taken prisoners to Supermax, said that there was a small triangular recreation area, known as "the dog run," where solitary Supermax prisoners could occasionally get a glimpse of sky.

He said it was chilling to walk down the cellblocks and glance through the plexiglass "sally port" chambers into the cells and see the faces inside.

Life there is harsh. Food is delivered through a slit in the cell door. Prisoners don't leave their cells to see a lawyer, a doctor or a prison official; those visitors must go to the cell.

But prisoners can earn extra privileges, like a wider variety of television offerings, more exercise time and visitation rights, based on their behavior.

There are 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors. Motion detectors and hidden cameras monitor every move. The prison walls and razor-wired grounds are patrolled by laser beams and dogs.

The facility is filling up. Four hundred inmates are there now. There is room for 90 more.

Looking to restore order after a rash of prison violence at the federal maximum-security lockup in Marion, Ill. — the facility that replaced the notorious Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay — officials in 1983 put the prisoners on indefinite lockdown.

California was among the first states to copy the concept, opening super-secure units in Corcoran in 1988 and Pelican Bay in 1989.

The federal Supermax prison in Colorado was opened in November 1994. Nobody has escaped.

"We just needed a more secure facility," said Tracy Billingsley, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. "We needed to bring together the most dangerous, that required the most intense supervision, to one location."

In his trial testimony, Aiken said the whole point of Supermax was not just punishment, but "incapacitation."

There is no pretense that the prison is preparing the inmate for a return to society. Like the cellmate of the count of Monte Cristo who died an old, tired convict, Aiken said, "Moussaoui will deteriorate."

The inmate "is constantly monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said. "He will never get lost in a crowd because he would never be in a crowd."

Christopher Boyce, a convicted spy who was incarcerated at Supermax, left the prison about 100 miles south of Denver with no regret. "You're slowly hung," he once told The Times. "You're ground down. You can barely keep your sanity."

Bernard Kleinman, a New York lawyer who represented Yousef, called it "extraordinarily draconian punishment."

Moussaoui might be a household name today, "but 20 years from now, people will forget him," Kleinman said. "He will sit there all alone, and all forgotten."

Ron Kuby, another New York defense lawyer, has handled several East Coast "revolutionaries" who went on a killing spree, and a radical fundamentalist who killed a rabbi in 1990. All were brought to Supermax.

He thought Aiken's description that prisoners rot inside its walls was too kind.

"It's beyond rotting," he said. "Rotting at least implies a slow, gradual disintegration."

He said there were a lot of prisons where inmates rot, where the staff "plants you in front of your TV in your cell and you just grow there like a mushroom."

"But Supermax is worse," he said. "It's not just the hothouse for the mushrooms. It's designed in the end to break you down."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...ck=1&cset=true

[DBruleU]

Is he going to be kept seperate from all other prisonors?

I hope he gets roughed up, or drops the soap.

[Crushaholic]

Excellent...

[Saddletramp]

Originally Posted by spdirty

Im a big death penalty advocate. I believe the country should follow Texas' lead and put it on expressway. But in this guys case, I can accept his fate. 23 hours trapped in a cell, everyday for the rest of his life. The only difference I'd make is that his cell is in a basement, and he is trapped in there 24/7 with no way to even see sunlight. His meals consist of pork every single day. And if he doesnt eat, he can starve to death. Oh, and once a year he gets the crap beaten out of him. Like an anniversary present.

That would be what Id want but we all can't have it the way we want.

my favorite joke. If you kill someone in
Texas we will kill you back.

[Bronx33]

He will have his little book to keep him comfy.

[Spider]

I would advocate the death penalty for OBL ...... But sice wecant catch a 6-5 Arab , Moussaui will do .... lock him up fir life , he is guilty of somthing ..........But passing out the death penalty the way Bush did is just fúcking stupid , but hey he is a texican , cant expect too much from him ...........
1 thing though ........... 10 comandments that you so called christians claim to follow , thou shall not kill .......... How do you death penalty supports that claim to be christian by pass that comandment ?

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by §Pide®

I would advocate the death penalty for OBL ...... But sice wecant catch a 6-5 Arab , Moussaui will do .... lock him up fir life , he is guilty of somthing ..........But passing out the death penalty the way Bush did is just fúcking stupid , but hey he is a texican , cant expect too much from him ...........
1 thing though ........... 10 comandments that you so called christians claim to follow , thou shall not kill .......... How do you death penalty supports that claim to be christian by pass that comandment ?

You might want to commit yourself to clearing up the mental cobwebs on your own. With the bullish way you hold conversation here, I cant see why someone would be willing to teach you.

[GonzoLays]

Originally Posted by §Pide®

10 comandments that you so called christians claim to follow , thou shall not kill .......... How do you death penalty supports that claim to be christian by pass that comandment ?

Half the people wishing this man death are christians.



Only a pagan would wish death upon another man. Wait, does God's law not apply here?

[Spider]

Originally Posted by angryllama

You might want to commit yourself to clearing up the mental cobwebs on your own. With the bullish way you hold conversation here, I cant see why someone would be willing to teach you.

I see you dont have a clue do you .......... once you look at the 10 comandments ,and your stance on the death penalty , you will see you and the rest are talking out of your áss ..........or can you pick and choose what comandments to follow ?
if your faith in god is what you claim it to be , then lock em up let god deal with them , you go on to glory with clean hands

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by GonzoLays

Half the people wishing this man death are christians.

Only half?

[epicSocialism4tw]

Originally Posted by §Pide®

I see you dont have a clue do you .......... once you look at the 10 comandments ,and your stance on the death penalty , you will see you and the rest are talking out of your áss ..........or can you pick and choose what comandments to follow ?
if your faith in god is what you claim it to be , then lock em up let god deal with them , you go on to glory with clean hands

Spider...the king of illogical assumptions.

[Spider]

Originally Posted by angryllama

Spider...the king of illogical assumptions.

I see you cant answer the question .............. I didnt think you could or anyone else for that matter ......but at least you are aware of the conflict