Death penalty Trump calls for Uzbek man charged in NY attack.
U.S. President Donald Trump called for the death penalty on Wednesday
for an Uzbek immigrant accused of plowing a truck down a New York City
bike path, killing eight people, describing the man as a “terrorist.”
Saipov
confessed to authorities that he made a trial run with a rental truck on
Oct. 22 to practice turning the vehicle and “stated that he felt good
about what he had done” after the attack, the complaint said.
Investigators found thousands of ISIS-related
propaganda images and videos on a cellphone belonging to Saipov,
including video clips showing ISIS prisoners being beheaded, run over by
a tank and shot in the face, the complaint said.
U.S. law
enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the
investigation was ongoing, told Reuters that Saipov had been in contact
with Kadirov and another person of interest in the investigation, though
they did not elaborate.
Earlier
in the day, Trump said he would be open to transferring Saipov to the
military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where other suspects including
alleged Sept. 11 plotters are held.
Kim, the federal prosecutor, said there was nothing about charging Saipov in civilian court that would necessarily prevent him from later being declared an enemy combatant.
Sayfullo Saipov, 29, who was hospitalized after he
was shot by a police officer and arrested, told investigators he had
been inspired by watching Islamic State videos and began planning
Tuesday’s attack a year ago, according to a criminal complaint filed
against him on Wednesday.
“NYC terrorist was
happy as he asked to hang ISIS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8
people, badly injured 12. Should Get Death Penalty!” Trump tweeted.
Saipov was charged with one count of providing
material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization,
specifically Islamic State, and one count of violence and destruction of
motor vehicles causing the deaths of eight people.
Manhattan
acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim said the first count carries a maximum
penalty of life in prison, while the second would make Saipov eligible
for capital punishment if convicted, if the government chose to seek the
death penalty. Additional or different charges could be brought later
in an indictment, Kim said.
Vehicle assaults
similar to the New York attack took place in Spain in August and in
France and Germany last year, claiming dozens of lives.
The
10-page charging document said Saipov waived his rights to remain
silent and avoid self-incrimination in agreeing to speak to
investigators without an attorney present from his bed at Bellevue
Hospital Center in Manhattan.
The complaint
said Saipov had requested permission to display the flag of the Islamic
State militant group in his hospital room.
It
said he was particularly motivated by seeing a video in which Abu Bakr
al-Baghdadi, who led the campaign by Islamic State - also known as ISIS -
to seize territory for a self-proclaimed caliphate within Iraq and
Syria, exhorted Muslims in the United States and elsewhere to support
the group’s cause.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had
located another Uzbek man, Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, 32, wanted for
questioning as a person of interest in the attack.
Tuesday’s assault was the deadliest in New York
City since Sept. 11, 2001, when suicide hijackers crashed two jetliners
into the World Trade Center, killing more than 2,600 people.
Of
those killed, five were Argentine tourists, who were among a group of
friends visiting New York to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their
high school graduation, one was a Belgian citizen, one was a New York
resident and one lived in New Jersey.
Saipov
allegedly used a pickup truck rented from a New Jersey Home Depot store
to run down pedestrians and cyclists along a 20-block stretch of the
bike path that runs along the Hudson River before slamming into a school
bus.
According to authorities, he then exited
his vehicle shouting “Allahu Akbar” - Arabic for “God is greatest” - and
brandishing what turned out to be a paint-ball gun and a pellet gun
before a police officer shot him in the abdomen.
Saipov lived in Paterson, New Jersey, a one-time industrial hub about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of lower Manhattan.
Saipov,
seated in a wheelchair, appeared for a brief hearing in Manhattan
federal court Wednesday evening before Magistrate Judge Barbara Moses,
appointed public defense attorney David Patton to represent him.
Saipov did not ask for bail and was remanded to federal custody. It was not immediately clear where he would be held.
Kim, the federal prosecutor, said there was nothing about charging Saipov in civilian court that would necessarily prevent him from later being declared an enemy combatant.