A few months ago I was wondering if Sajida Rishawai, the would be suicide bomber of last year’s Amman bombings, would actually get the death penalty and would it be a just punishment for the crime. Ashraf Al-Akhrass, the groom of the wedding that was attacked, who pleaded with the court back in May to give Sajida the death penalty, inspired my contemplation. I was trying to put myself in his shoes after losing 18 family members including a father, father-in-law and mother-in-law. I wondered if I would ask for the maximum punishment or ask the court to be merciful.
It’s been nearly a year and evidently the court has decided on the former punishment as 7 are now sentenced to hang but since Sajida is the only one in custody she will be facing the gallows alone, being the first women in Jordanian history to do so.
One of the Parliament’s lawmakers, Mahmoud al-Kharabsheh, said the harsh verdict â??sent a clear sign to terroristsâ?Â. And I suppose this was the intention and/or “reasoning” behind it. The problem with this is that terrorists could care less. I’m inclined to believe that someone who straps a bomb to his or her body to kill people and be killed in the process could care less about the death penalty. The sentence only strengthens the cause of terrorists. Perhaps it would have been better for the court to show her mercy. Perhaps not. I think everyone has an opinion but I think the most valid opinions should factor in the actual case, the perpetrators and the victims, rather than have a generic view of the death penalty. It’s not always universal and it’s not always one size fits all, in the sense that it is much easier to advocate against the death penalty from afar but we enter darker territory when the crime hits closer to home with us.
An interesting excerpt from a Forbes article today…
Ashraf al-Akhras, who was the groom in the stricken wedding party and who lost his father and 16 other family members and in-laws, said, “She got her just punishment, but it won’t assuage the fire inside for my great loss.”
Al-Rishawi “got what she deserved,” said Mahmoud al-Akrabawi, one of the wedding guests who lost his wife and two children.
“I hope the government will allow us to attend her execution and I wish that the rest will be brought to justice,” he said. [source]
Hey Nas. Although I’m having problems understanding the motive behind those attacks, but what is weirder, is the idea of attacking a hotel in an arab muslim country for such a “declared” reason. And as you said, I put myself in his shoes and all I could think of is kill her myself (her as a symbol of whoever would do such a thing). Because I believe that what happened had and still has nothing to do with Islam.
I’m sure an unconventional approach for punishment will prove effective, but IZZargawi was forgiven and shown mercy in 1999 and look what he turned out to be + sajidah is a burden on Jordanian security when ever a Jordanian hostage is taken, it is done in the name of Sajida’s release, so while I appreciate your unconventional scope to solve this problem, it has been tried and failed.
this is only a little bit related to the article above. my name is bembette ladip. i’m from the philippines and i’ve been trying to get contact details of mahmoud al-akrabawi through the ‘net. this article came out but i’m not sure if this is the same person, and if he is, then how to get in touch with him. i’m looking into different avenues of how to reach him.
if this person is in his early 40s, studied in a university in the philippines during the late 80s, then he might be the one. would appreciate any help you can give in tracking him down, in case you know the circles he might be in.
thank you.