Blinded Muslim pleads to save his attacker's life

[rug]

A Muslim who was shot and blinded by a white supremacist days after the 9/11 attacks is suing the governor of Texas to prevent his assailant from being executed.

Rais Bhuiyan says his rights as a victim were ignored when his attacker, Mark Stroman, was sentenced to death after a shooting spree at a Dallas convenience store that left two of his colleagues dead. Stroman, who claims he went on the rampage "against Arabs" in revenge for the death of his half-sister on September 11, 2001, is due to be executed on Wednesday after his final appeal was denied.

Mr Bhuiyan contends state prosecutors "pushed forward with the death penalty" without consulting him or the families of the other victims as required under the Texas Crime Victims' Bill of Rights.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday, Mr Bhuiyan's lawyers said their client was seeking reconciliation with Stroman "because his parents raised him with the religious principle that he is best who can forgive easily. As a Muslim, plaintiff is of the belief that when he forgives or promotes mercy for his attacker, the government should no longer have a duty or a right to exact the ultimate punishment upon Mr Stroman".

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/blinded-muslim-pleads-to-save-his-attackers-life/story-e6frg6so-1226095556392

The execution is set for Wednesday.

[struggle4progress]

1. Some people really hear those verse beginnings "Allah, Compassionate, Merciful"

[okasha]

4. Some do, indeed. Blessed are the merciful.

Meanwhile, I'm willing to bet that someone, somewhere, out in the conservative landscape will be clutching his pearls and gasping "ZOMG! He wants to implement Sharia law in Texas! He's an al-Qaida sleeper!"

[rug]

5. Lol. The irony of logic.

[napoleon_in_rags]

2. A BRUTAL TOTAL victory for the victim there.

Muslims are savages? Ha! He makes a joke of the ideas of his attacker.

[localroger]

3. Poor guy didn't get the memo

"Victim's rights" are only important when the victim wants vengeance.

[Igel]

10. I'm not sure he has the right he says he has.

He has a right to complete a victim's impact statement and to have it considered and to be told of what use is made of it. To being informed about proceedings.

What penalty he thinks is appropriate isn't, I dont' think, a part of the impact statement and, in fact, apart from "considering" the impact statement the "system" need make no further use of it.

He could write that the assault had no impact on him, but the impact is what results from the alleged crime, not from later legal steps. He doesn't have to file one. But they certainly should have notified him.

The *defendent* could have used him as a witness. On the other hand, at issue are the *victim's* rights, and a tolerable defense lawyer would have talked to the victims. Had the victim said, "But I'm fine and want nothing more extreme than X as a penalty" that would have been great (although on cross I'm not sure what he could have been expected to say that might actually have undone any good he did by testifying for the defendent).

[Critters2]

12. Exactly nt

[ZombieHorde]

6. Recommended. Thanks for posting.

This Muslim guy really seems to value happiness. I admire that quality.

[AlecBGreen]

7. reminds me of the Amish reaction to an awful shooting

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6052758.stm

THAT is true compassion. It is an amazing thing to behold.

[rug]

8. That's the first thing I thought of when i read this.

[LeftishBrit]

9. k&r

[Deep13]

11. As much as I sympathize with the plaintiff...

...we don't have private justice. The state prosecuted the case and the state executes according to Texas' (admittedly blood-thirsty) law. The damage to the victims are relevant to sentencing, but their specific wishes are not. Besides, there are other victims who cannot speak on this because they were killed. In point of fact, the murderer is being executed for the actual murders and not for the horrible injury he inflicted on the plaintiff, so the plaintiff doesn't have standing to object anyway.

[rug]

13. We'll find out tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here's a little more detail.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7660189.html

[rug]

14. The execution is going forward, even as we speak.

A federal district judge in Austin rejected the suit and Bhuiyan's request for an injunction on Wednesday afternoon. His lawyers appealed the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and said they would take the matter to the Supreme Court if needed.

Stroman's lawyer, in the prisoner's own appeals to the Supreme Court, pointed to Bhuiyan's "significant surprise" and argued attorneys during Stroman's trial and in earlier stages of his appeals were deficient for not illustrating "the path that led him to this violent frenzy."

The high court, in brief orders late Wednesday afternoon, rejected those appeals.

Stroman's lethal injection would be the eighth this year in Texas. At least eight other inmates in the nation's busiest death penalty state have execution dates in the coming weeks. The death warrants in Texas specify lethal injections are carried out after 6 p.m., but the warrants remain in effect until midnight

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-07-20-texas-inmate-execution_n.htm