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| Virginia Executes Pakistani Who Killed 2 at the C.I.A. |
| By New York Times |
| Published: 11/18/2002 |
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Mir Aimal Kasi, the Pakistani extremist convicted of fatally shooting two C.I.A. employees in 1993 while they were stopped in traffic outside the agency's headquarters, was put to death last night in Virginia by lethal injection. Mr. Kasi's hopes for a stay of execution ended at 5 yesterday afternoon, when Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner denied a request for clemency. Earlier in the afternoon, the United States Supreme Court rejected an appeal. Shortly before the execution at 9, Mr. Kasi, 38, and his spiritual adviser entered the death chamber of the Greensville Correctional Center, chanting in their native tongue. Mr. Kasi and his adviser had a 15- to 20-second exchange, the adviser left, and Mr. Kasi continued chanting softly. He stopped only to give his last statement, which was, 'There is no god but Allah.' Afterward, he resumed chanting until he lost consciousness. Death was pronounced at 9:07 p.m. A news media witness, Guy Taylor of The Washington Times, said that after Mr. Kasi was strapped down, he made a 'V' with the first two fingers of his right hand. 'At the same time,' Mr. Taylor said, 'he moved his right foot back and forth like a boy going to sleep.' On Jan. 23, 1993, Mr. Kasi used an assault rifle to kill Frank A. Darling, 28, and Lansing H. Bennett, 66, as they sat in their cars at a stoplight in McLean, Va., near the Central Intelligence Agency's headquarters. After the shootings, in which three others were wounded, Mr. Kasi got back in his car and drove away. He eluded prosecution for more than four years by hiding in Pakistan, but F.B.I. agents traced him to a hotel there and arrested him in 1997. The agents said he gave a detailed confession on the return flight, saying he was enraged by C.I.A. activity in Pakistan and other Islamic nations. Later that year, in a two-week trial in Fairfax County marked by extraordinarily high security, he was found guilty and sentenced to death. Governor Warner, a Democrat, said: 'Mr. Kasi has admitted to the crimes for which he was convicted and shown absolutely no remorse for his actions. After a thorough review of Mr. Kasi's petition for clemency and the judicial opinion regarding this case, I have concluded that the death penalty is appropriate in the instance. I will not intervene.' |
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