Many American Muslims Troubled by Recent Death Sentence

June 13, 2001

Source: The New York Times

On June 13, 2001, The New York Times reported that "although a Saudi terrorist was saved from the death penalty by the deadlock of a New York jury yesterday, American Muslim leaders said the man's trial still posed difficult political and religious questions. Recent surveys have found that most American Muslims support capital punishment. "Emotionally," however, "it's easier to accept the idea of a Muslim in prison than the idea of a Muslim killed by a non-Muslim state," said a professor of Islamic law at the UCLA School of Law. "Reaction to the trial and the sentence is filtered through the prism of Muslim suspicions that Americans are biased against them and their religion."