2002: Mir Aimal Qazi
12 comments November 14th, 2022 04:56am Headsman
On this date in 2002, Pakistani Mir Aimal Kansi, Kasi, or Qazi was executed by lethal injection in Virginia, U.S.A.
“Real angry with the policy of the U.S. government in the Middle East, particularly toward the Palestinian people,”* Qazi on January 25, 1993 revenged himself on Central Intelligence Agency commuters queued for a left turn at a Fairfax County traffic signal.
His attack was as direct as his motivation; as an area resident Qazi knew that this particular turn lane would consist of CIA spooks almost to a man, so he just walked down the queue of red-lighted cars firing with his Type 56. Lansing Bennett, 66, and Frank Darling, 28, were killed in the attack; three others survived their injuries.
In a stroke of incredible good (for him) luck, the gunman’s car was not accurately identified amid the mayhem, enabling Qazi to catch 40 winks at a Days Inn and then hop a plane for Pakistan the next day. There he lived as a fugitive until 1997, when the multimillion-dollar bounty on his head led some associates to shop him to the U.S. embassy, which arranged his kidnapping and extradition.
A Fairfax County, Virginia, jury condemned him to death after a 10-day trial in November 1997. After his execution, Qazi’s body was repatriated to Pakistan where it was exalted with a martyr’s burial attended by, among many other worthies, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States.
* Qazi’s words in a prison interview.
On this day..
- 1989: Solomon Ngobeni, the last hanged in South Africa - 2019
- 2018: The Sultan of Coins - 2018
- 1879: Charles Drews and Frank Stichler, graveyard insurance - 2017
- 1738: False Tsarevich Alexei - 2016
- Daily Double: Georgia - 2015
- 1996: Larry Lonchar, bad gambler - 2015
- 1864: Franz Muller, "Ich habe es getan" - 2014
- 1888: William Showers, "pathetic soul" - 2013
- 1930: Yang Kaihui, Mao Zedong's wife - 2012
- 1960: Phineas Tshitaundzi, the panga man - 2011
- 1963: Four Cubans as CIA spies - 2010
- 1726: The Gypsy outlaws of Hesse-Darmstadt - 2009
- 1817: Policarpa Salavarrieta, Colombian independence heroine - 2008
- 1226: Frederick of Isenberg - 2007
Entry Filed under: 21st Century,Capital Punishment,Crime,Cycle of Violence,Death Penalty,Disfavored Minorities,Execution,Lethal Injection,Murder,Pakistan,Racial and Ethnic Minorities,USA,Virginia
Tags: 2000s, 2002, mir aimal qazi, november 14
Recent Comments