It was the city’s bloodiest act of terrorism since the WTC attacks in 2001. Prosecutors have sought the death penalty for the perpetrator.
An Uzbek man who drove a truck on a bicycle path in New York five years ago and killed eight people has been convicted of murder and terrorism crimes in the United States.
34 years old Sayfullo Saipov rode along the bike path in Manhattan in October 2017, when families with children had gathered to celebrate Halloween. It was the city’s bloodiest act of terrorism since the September 11 WTC attacks in 2001.
Saipov said he carried out the attack on behalf of the extremist organization ISIS, and the organization later called him one of its “soldiers”.
Prosecutors have applied for the death sentence for Saipov. New York has abolished the death penalty at the state level, but Saipov was convicted in federal court.
Federal death sentences have been suspended by the president Joe Biden period, but the administration has been thought to want to make exceptions for serious acts of terrorism.
The Boston bomber can also be executed
Along with Saipov, the execution of the death sentence threatens the person convicted of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings Dzohar Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in 2015.
According to the New York Times, a jury will decide in February whether Saipov will receive the death penalty or life in prison.
Federal executions are relatively rare in the United States, where most executions are carried out in state judicial systems.
Former President Donald Trump’s a record number of federal death sentences were carried out during the period. Trump also demanded the death sentence for Saipov, fresh after the bloodshed.