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Shooting survivor wants Texas execution for 9/11-inspired hate crimes stopped
Mark Anthony Stroman
(Credit: CBS/KTVT)(CBS/KTVT) AUSTIN, Texas - Less than a week before convicted killer Mark Anthony Stroman is scheduled for execution, one of his victims is suing Texas Governor Rick Perry in effort to save the life of the man who tried to take his during a spree of hate crimes following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"Please do the right thing, save a human life, please," Rais Bhuiyan said from the steps of the Travis County Courthouse Thursday, according to CBS affiliate KTVT.
Bhuiyan, a devout Muslim, begged for mercy for Stroman, a death row inmate who shot him in 2001, leaving him partially blind.
"Please, listen to my request and lower Mark's punishment from death to life in prison," he said, "If the Governor of Texas and the Board of Pardons and Parole can listen to the victims when they want revenge, why can they not listen when the victims are asking for mercy?"
Stroman was convicted of killing an Islamic man in the months following the September 11, 2001 attacks, but according to police, he also killed a second man and shot Bhuiyan, who was working at a convenience store in southeastern Dallas. According to KTVT, all the victims were from India and Pakistan.
Stroman believed the U.S. government "hadn't done their job so he was going to do it for them" and retaliate for the terrorist attacks, according to The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"September 11th did a horrible thing not just to the U.S. but to the world, this is a time we can take a new narrative, a narrative of forgiveness, compassion, tolerance and healing," Bhuiyan said. "I never hated him, I was never angry at him, rather I understand what he did was out of ignorance."
Stroman is schedule to die by lethal injection on Wednesday.
In a last ditch effort to stop the execution, Bhuiyan is suing Governor Rick Perry and other state officials. According to the lawsuit, Bhuiyan claims Perry violated his rights as a crime victim by ignoring his requests to meet with Stroman for mediation.
"I strongly believe Mark Stroman is a different person," he said, "I believe if Mark is given a chance to live, he will become a spokesperson in raising awareness for hate crimes."
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