[/caption]Carol Forsloff - While some victims’ families long for justice with the severest punishment at times, others approach their grief with forgiveness as a Muslim man has done for a man scheduled to be executed today.
After 9/11 Mark Anthony Stroman, 41, a Dallas stonecutter, became enraged about the terrorism he believed would spread so he shot three people, killing two of them: Vasudev Patel, a Hindu immigrant, and Waqar Hasan, a Pakistani-born Muslim. The third victim, Rais Bhuiyan, a former Bangladesh Air Force pilot, was shot in the face at close range, but survived.
Stroman is to be executed July 20 at 7 pm EST for the shooting deaths, while Bhiuyan has pleaded for the life of the man who is scheduled to die for the hate crime committed after the terrorist bombing incident in New York on 9/11/2011.
A third shooting victim, Rais Bhuiyan, 37, a former Air Force pilot from Bangladesh, survived after Mr. Stroman shot him in the face at close range. Mr. Stroman admitted to the shootings.
Bhuiyan was blinded in his left ey in order to plead the case of the main who shot him. He has also personally met with officials in Texas to prevent the election.
During an interview with the Death Penalty Organization, Bhuiyan discussed his concerns and what happened the day he was shot. He said when Stroman came into the store where Bhuiyan was working as a clerk. Stroman had asked, “Where are you from” before shooting Bhuiyan with a double barrel gun. After describing the pain of the shooting and his fear before being shot, Bhuiyan continued, “Then he left the store. I could not believe he shot me. I thought I was dreaming, going through a hallucination. I didn’t do anything wrong. I was not a threat to him. I couldn’t believe someone would just shoot you like that.” Even then Bhuiyan said he felt himself praying, realizing he was still alive and said, “ I was asking God, asking for forgiveness, saying I would do my best. Reciting verses from the Koran. I said I would dedicate my life to the poor. I felt my eyes were closing and it felt like my brain was shutting down slowly.
Before the execution Bhuiyan implored people to give Stroman a second chance and said he has trouble sleeping knowing that the killer of two other men will die for the crime before being able to make some sort of recompense.
The interviewer followed his telephone meeting with Bhuiyan than called STrroman and asked, “What do you think of Rais Bhuiyan’s efforts to keep you from being executed?”
Mr Stroman answered this: “Yes, Mr Rais Bhuiyan, what an inspiring soul...for him to come forward after what ive done speaks Volume’s...and has really Touched My heart and the heart of Many others World Wide...Especially since for the last 10 years all we have heard about is How Evil the Islamic faith Can be...its proof that all are Not bad nor Evil.”
“Not only do I have all My friends and supporters trying to Save my Life, but now i have The Islamic Community Joining in...Spearheaded by one Very Remarkable man Named Rais Bhuiyan, Who is a Survivor of My Hate. His deep Islamic Beliefs Have gave him the strength to Forgive the Un-forgiveable...that is truly Inspiring to me, and should be an Example for us all.
Rais Bhuiyan has made the following video that is being shown on websites asking for a moratorium of the scheduled execution. In it he relates his story, how he was shot and what happened to him at the time and afterwards, as he pleads for Stroman’s life.
The Dallas News has joined others in asking that Stroman be spared execution. “Retribution, in fact, is one element of the death penalty that the Supreme Court has cited in allowing its use. With the victims of the Stroman spree now dropping the demand for retribution — vengeance, essentially — the state is left alone in seeking it. Moral authority, though, has fallen away.”
At the same time, people continue to ask for some sort of punishment for Casey Anthony, in the wake of the not guilty verdict in the trial where she had been accused of killing her tot, Caylee. Many people hope for some sort of retribution for Caylee's death, and a penalty for the mother despite the jury verdict, blaming the members of the jury and People and looking at how the law can be changed in some way to prevent what they consider an unjust decision.
But those who support the peaceful way of managing feelings about hate and violence have been asked by the Texas Moratorium Network to join Bhuiyan and others in stopping the execution of Stroman by calling Governor Perry at 512 463 2000 or writing the governor using a form on his website. People were also told they could join a Facebook event page for a silent vigil with Bhuiyan.
One of the most famous examples of forgiveness occurred following the killing of six Amish girls by Charles Carl Roberts in a one-room school in Pennsylvania in October 2006. After authorities approached the area after being alerted that Roberts was holding ten girls at the school, intending to rape and potentially kill them, Roberts asked the girls to pray with him. They did, and yet were still shot dead before Roberts shot himself with the same gun he used on the children.
The Amish community responded with public forgiveness, to the extent that they attended Roberts’ funeral and allowed the wife of the man who had killed their children to attend the funerals of some of the girls. Among many of the reports of Amish forgiving response was this statement by one of them, "Even though there has been this terrible thing [that has] happened, [we] don't need to think about judgment, [we] need to think about forgiveness and going on."
The Friends Journal points out how some of the media wondered in print and on television, in shock and amazement as many were at the level of forgiveness of the Amish, whether in fact replicating that in the rest of society might be foolhardy. Others said it offered a unique opportunity for people to examine their hearts and consciences and see if there might be a better way than to seek death for death as retribution.
The Journal quotes the essay by Joan Chittister about applying that same forgiveness after 9/ll and perhaps it might be appropriate in the light of a pending execution to look at the level of forgiveness of Bhuiyan and the Amish in the way we manage our feelings and behaviors following such terrible crimes as child murders and 9/11. As Chittister has said, deep down we have a chance to do the same.
Yet even as the Amish asked forgiveness and Bhuiyan pleaded for clemency from Governor Perry, Stroman was put to death at 9:53 pm, ET, according to a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
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