December
21
Sacrificing
the death penalty to nab suspects
By
Daniel Schorr
WASHINGTON
- Everybody has to make sacrifices in the war against terrorism. For
President Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft, it may be something as
ideologically sacred as capital punishment.
As
governor of Texas, Mr. Bush presided over 40 of the nation's 85 executions
last year. It could be assumed that he would seek the ultimate penalty for
terrorists convicted of murdering Americans.
Zacarias
Moussaoui, the first person charged in the United States in the Sept. 11
terrorist plot, was indicted on six counts, four of which carry a possible
death sentence. The northern district of Virginia, chosen for his jury
trial, is considered friendly to capital punishment.
But
the Moroccan Moussaoui is a French citizen, and France, like all of the
European Union, has abolished the death penalty. The French minister of
justice, Marylise Lebranchu, says, "We do not accept the death
penalty. There has to be a discussion with the United States."
The
French could be ignored because Mr. Moussaoui is safely in American hands.
But other suspects remain to be extradited. Spain is holding eight suspects
that it will not turn over to American justice unless assured they will not
be subject to capital punishment. Britain is holding Lotfi Raissi,
suspected of organizing pilot training for hijackers.
Mr.
Ashcroft toured European countries (but not France) last week, assuring
governments that the US respects their laws and traditions and will deal
with extradition requests "on a case-by-case basis." But, at some
point, Ashcroft will undoubtedly have to face the painful decision of
whether to waive the death penalty in order to get his hands on a wanted
suspect.
In
dealing with crime, there are precedents for waiving application of the
death penalty as a price for extradition. Last July, Ashcroft joined
Pennsylvania state authorities in a no-capital-punishment guarantee to meet
the French condition for the extradition of Ira Einhorn, a counterculture
figure wanted on a murder charge dating back to 1977. In the same month of
July, the same pledge was made to France to gain the extradition of James
Charles Kopp, wanted for the 1998 killing of an upstate New York abortion
doctor.
For
those who believe in capital punishment as fervently as many countries
despise it, agreeing to spare the lives of mass murderers is a tough call
to make. But it's a call that may have to be made if some of these
murderers are to face justice.
� Daniel Schorr is a senior news analyst at NPR.
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