U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that he hopes that the Guantanamo pris­on­ers accused of ter­ror­ism do not receive the death penal­ty in the upcom­ing Military Commission tri­als because it would give them the mar­tyr­dom that they want. In a recent talk to British eco­nom­ic stu­dents, Mukasey said he sup­ports the death penal­ty, but, ​“In a way I kind of hope from a per­son­al stand­point … I kind of hope they don’t get it. Because many of them want to be mar­tyrs .…”

Prosecuting attor­neys for the mil­i­tary have asked to seek the death penal­ty for 6 pris­on­ers in Guantanamo accused of ter­ror­ism. The Department of Defense has not yet announced whether they will approve the mil­i­tary com­mis­sion tri­als as capital cases. 

(“Mukasey: Avoid death, mar­tyr­dom for 9/​11 accused,” by Terry Frieden, CNN​.com, March 14, 2008). See New Voices and Federal Death Penalty.

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