Pakistani terrorist Mir Aimal Kasi was executed in Virginia by lethal injection
Satish Kumar
CTV News Staff
Thu. Nov. 14 2002
A Pakistani man who killed two CIA employees outside the agency's
headquarters in 1993 was executed Thursday night. The U.S. is warning
of possible retaliatory attacks.
Mir Aimal Kasi died by lethal injection at 9:07 p.m. ET in Jarrat,
Virginia.
"There is no God but Allah," Kasi chanted in his native tongue until
he lost consciousness.
Kasi was convicted of killing CIA employees Lansing Bennett, 66, a
physician and intelligence analyst, and Frank Darling, 28, an
undercover agent, in a shooting rampage in January 1993. Both victims
were sitting in their cars outside CIA headquarters in Langley.
Kasi wounded three other men while walking along the row of cars,
shooting into them with an assault rifle.
After the attack, Kasi fled to Afghanistan, where he spent most of the
next year hiding in and around Kandahar. He was caught while visiting
Pakistan and confessed to the killing during his return flight to the
U.S.
Hours before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal
and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner denied a request for clemency, saying
Kasi has "shown absolutely no remorse for his actions."
In Kasi's home town of Quetta, hundreds of protesters took to the
streets, burning the American flag and calling for clemency.
"Aimal is not a terrorist. His action was a reaction to what was
happening to Muslims in Chechnya and Palestine," tribal elder Ibrahim
Kasi told demonstrators.
Many local Pakistanis appeared to support Kasi, despite his confession
to the crime.
"Kansi did good," said Pervez Masih, a 23-year-old car washer and
minority Christian in predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
"America is an enemy of Muslims," delivery driver Abur Rahim.
Kasi blamed the killing spree on U.S. foreign policy.
"I did it because the government of the United States has caused
enormous damage to the Muslims in the Middle East by supporting Israel
and imposing economic sanctions against Islamic countries," Kasi said
in a earlier interview with ABC News.
Kansi is not believed to have had any links with terrorist
organizations such as al Qaeda, and he had said in recent days he's
against targeting U.S. civilians.
But U.S. official remain wary amid a flurry of recent "chatter" by
terrorists organizations indicating future attacks could be in the
works.
Hamid Gul, a former head of Pakistan's military-run Inter-Services
Intelligence agency, has filed a petition in the High Court, arguing
that Kasi should have appeared in a Pakistani court before being
handed over to the U.S.
"Pakistani laws were grossly violated," Gul said. "It brings into
question our citizenship. It is very insulting."