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Full text of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's Statement

Here is the full text of Dzhokhar's statement at his death penalty trial.

THE DEFENDANT : Thank you, your Honor, for giving me an opportunity to speak. I would like to begin in the name of Allah, the exalted and glorious, the most gracious, the most merciful, "Allah" among the most beautiful names. Any act that does not begin in the name of God is separate from goodness.

This is the blessed month of Ramadan, and it is the month of mercy from Allah to his creation, a month to ask forgiveness of Allah and of his creation, a month to express gratitude to Allah and to his creation. It's the month of reconciliation, a month of patience, a month during which hearts change. Indeed, a month of many blessings.

[More...]

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said if you have not thanked the people, you have not thanked God. So I would like to first thank my attorneys, those who sit at this table, the table behind me, and many more behind the scenes. They have done much good for me, for my family. They made my life the last two years very easy. I cherish their company. They're lovely companions. I thank you.

I would like to thank those who took time out of daily lives to come and testify on my behalf despite the pressure. I'd like to thank the jury for their service, and the Court. The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said that if you do not -- if you are not merciful to Allah's creation, Allah will not be merciful to you, so I'd like to now apologize to the victims, to the survivors.

Immediately after the bombing, which I am guilty of -- if there's any lingering doubt about that, let there be no more. I did do it along with my brother -- I learned of some of the victims. I learned their names, their faces, their age. And throughout this trial more of those victims were given names, more of those victims had faces, and they had burdened souls.

Now, all those who got up on that witness stand and that podium related to us -- to me -- I was listening -- the suffering that was and the hardship that still is, with strength and with patience and with dignity. Now, Allah says in the Qur'an that no soul is burdened with more than it can bear, and you told us just how unbearable it was, how horrendous it was, this thing I put you through. And I know that you kept that much. I know that there isn't enough time in the day for you to have related to us everything. I also wish that far more people had a chance to get up there, but I took them from you.

Now, I am sorry for the lives that I've taken, for the suffering that I've caused you, for the damage that I've done. Irreparable damage. Now, I am a Muslim. My religion is Islam. The God I worship, besides whom there is no other God, is Allah. And I ask Allah to have mercy upon me and my brother and my family. I ask Allah to bestow his mercy upon those present here today. And Allah knows best those deserving of his mercy. And I ask Allah to have mercy upon the ummah of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. Amin. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

Thank you.

< Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Speaks at Sentencing | Thursday Open Thread >
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  • Display: Sort:
    There's a shred of goodness... (5.00 / 3) (#1)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 25, 2015 at 08:21:00 AM EST
    in there somewhere, in between all the god damn Allahs.  It saddens me we're gonna kill him, and not give that shred a chance to spread.

    Yeah... (none / 0) (#3)
    by lentinel on Thu Jun 25, 2015 at 09:09:21 AM EST
    All the Allahs seem to mitigate any sense of sorrow that he is claiming to experience.

    Parent
    Well indoctrinated... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 25, 2015 at 09:13:42 AM EST
    by mother and brother...kid hardly had a chance.

    Parent
    That's compassionate (none / 0) (#6)
    by lentinel on Thu Jun 25, 2015 at 09:50:59 AM EST
    of you, but I kinda think that he had a choice.

    If we follow the "no chance" line, we have to apply it to all of the freaky torturers at abu ghraib, all the gents giving unwelcome baths at the CIA blackholes, all the folks who say the devil made them do it, the guy who was possessed by the confederate flag... The guy who dropped the atomic bomb...

    I'm willing to entertain the notion that anyone in the military doing what they were told to do, even if they might sense somewhere that it is not quite the right thing to do, should receive some compassion...

    I suppose I would say that I'm conflicted about dispensing compassion when it comes to this kind of random slaughter of innocent people.

    The kid would have had to know, somewhere, that this ain't right.

    On the other hand, we have been dispensing quite a bit of random slaughter in the Allah part of the world for decades.

    I guess my final analysis is that I am angry at the whole ongoing mess - and to the extent that this kid was caught up in it...

    But, ultimately, "sorry" doesn't cut it for me.

    Parent

    I get where you're coming from... (5.00 / 2) (#7)
    by kdog on Thu Jun 25, 2015 at 09:57:30 AM EST
    "oops, my bad" doesn't cut it when you set off a bomb to indiscriminately kill innocent people.  But it's better than "no regrets", I sense at least some regret for his unspeakable actions in his statement, I could be wrong.  

    And it's true we all are indoctrinated, but all indoctrination is not equal.  I was indoctrinated quite well (thanks mom & dad!), others aren't so lucky.  I might argue this kid's mind and soul was poisoned at a younger age, and to a greater extent, than your average 18-25 year old US military or CIA recruit.

     

    Parent

    To pursue (none / 0) (#8)
    by lentinel on Thu Jun 25, 2015 at 10:35:52 AM EST
    this a wee bit more, if you don't mind...

    I might argue this kid's mind and soul was poisoned at a younger age, and to a greater extent, than your average 18-25 year old US military or CIA recruit.

    OK. What about GWBush?
    Poisoned from day one - with a fascist grandfather and a thug like GHWB as a father - the prig who coined military action in Kuwait ("liberation of Kuwait" my aunt fanny)  "kicking azz".

    What chance did poor little Georgie have?

    And yet, I would rather see him condemned to the eternal fiery furnace than extend the olive branch of compassion.

    I really don't know.

    Obviously we need some kind of education in these matters.
    Christianity was so corrupted as to sanction sh-t like the inquisition and the crusades.

    To really stretch a point...
    There's this about Adolf...

    The mass killings that he later perpetrated stemmed in part from a desperate loathing of his own submissive weakness, and the humiliations of being beaten by a sadisti