If he is released but not deported, would he be safe?
I hope not.
I lived in Egypt from 2002 until 2007, so I have a little bit of a claim to on-the-ground knowledge of that (not great, as I barely spoke a word of Masri, the colloquial Egyptian form of Arabic). I’m sure there were Egyptians who celebrated 9/11 but disbelief and consternation were far more common responses among the Egyptians I spoke to. Americans who were in Egypt when 9/11 happened characterized the local response in the days afterward the same way. (One American woman married to an Egyptian told me that within hours after the news, her mother-in-law called her and said, “it wasn’t anyone from the Middle East who did that. We Arabs couldn’t possibly get our act together well enough to pull something like that off.”)
We all know that anecdote, or limited personal experience in my case, doesn’t equal data. But if you can show me with objective evidence that my characterization is wrong, I invite you to do so.
No, I’m not going to claim you’re wrong. Egypt may be the least hostile among the countries I listed, and perhaps your anecdotal experience is entirely correct, but it has been mentioned in the context of celebrating 9/11, at least in terms of some minority groups doing so:
The Associated Press Television News video aired on ABC News shows dozens of Palestinians [in East Jerusalem], many of them young boys, cheering the attacks in the streets while cars drive by honking and others hand out sweets in celebration. Mentions of celebrations in other Middle East countries, including Egypt and Lebanon, were also reported on air by ABC News at the time.
What ABC News Footage Shows of 9/11 Celebrations - ABC News
And it appears that anti-Americanism has been rampant among many in Egypt for some time:
It is a tough decision. In situations like this, it is better to err on the side of mercy.
Ooof. You got me. I got liquored up just last night, as is my wont.
Didn’t kill anyone though.
I have some pretty mixed feelings about this. I mean, this guy drastically altered history, IMO.
Where would he even go? He’s pretty well institutionalized, I would think. Truthfully, he may well be better off where he is. At least he has food and shelter and health care.
Sirhan Sirhan’s murder of RFK was textbook political assassination. I rarely support executions, and I don’t in this case, but life without parole seems like an appropriate punishment. Hopefully Newsom rejects parole.
I did … oh wait, that was part of my questline in Elder Scrolls Online
Which is why I think he should be kicked out of jail. He’s 77 years old, he has no money, he’s not eligible for food stamps, social security or free medical care.
I understand he is to be deported to Jordan, or perhaps Israel.
I generally do not believe people who commit first degree murder should ever be paroled. It isn’t about vengeance, it is about equity. Like Eastwood’s character in Unforgiven says–“when you kill a man, you take everything he has, and everything he’ll ever have.” Nothing can ever make right that Sirhan stole from RFK the remainder of his natural life, and he inflicted the greatest harm you can inflict on another person. The criminal justice system serves multiple purposes, it is not just about rehabilitation and deterrence, it is also about matters of equity under the law. That’s a foundational concept in courts. It’s one of the reasons we constituted judicial processes, to let a neutral third party “make things right.” Simple vengeance would have been for one of RFK’s kids to have shot Sirhan or something of that nature. But a judge and jury applying an appropriate sanction for the most egregious injury you can inflict on another person, is not vengeance, it is justice. I have little doubt Sirhan would be safe if released, and it sounds like he would be deported quickly anyway. I have little doubt Sirhan feels remorseful.
I think it is fine to forgive Sirhan. But not to excuse him. RFK is just as dead today as he was the day Sirhan pulled the trigger, Sirhan’s incarceration should continue.
I can’t see parole for Sirhan, given that Charles Manson died in prison.
The biggest reason for keeping Sirhan locked up is that he hasn’t accepted responsibility for his crime. From the Guardian:
“At his last parole hearing in 2016, commissioners concluded after more than three hours of intense testimony that Sirhan did not show adequate remorse or understand the enormity of his crime.”
“Sirhan has stuck to his account that he does not remember the killing.”
If he’s deported to Jordan there’ll be a big reception* and probably parades. If he’s sent to Palestinian territory they’ll likely give him high elective office and a palatial residence.
*recalling Jonathan Pollard, the released spy who got a hero’s welcome back in Israel.
I say let him rot in jail till he leaves feet first. He very likely significantly changed our county’s history, and not for the better.
Given what a nutbar RFK jr is, I think I’d take his view with a giant grain of salt, regardless of the connection.
Oh, no argument. He’s coo-coo for coco puffs.
There’s a powerful opinion piece in the NY Times by Rory, the youngest of RFK’s kids, born 6 months after he was killed. I know it’s paywalled so here are some excerpts:
Robert Kennedy Was My Dad. His Assassin Doesn’t Deserve Parole.
My father’s murder was absolute, irreversible, a painful truth that I have had to live with every day of my life . . . Because he was killed before I was born, it meant I never had the chance to see my father’s face and he never had the chance to see mine. . . .
For America, the price of my father’s life and ambitions cut short has been incalculable — for the thousands of young men who died in Vietnam as the war my father opposed ground on for nearly seven more years, for the millions living in poverty or under the yoke of racism, for the wrongfully convicted who have languished behind prison walls, for the generation of would-be leaders whose hopes and dreams my father carried with him. Who knows what his death has cost?
. . . .
And what I do know is that Mr. Sirhan is not someone deserving of parole. I believe this despite last week’s recommendation by the Los Angeles County parole board’s two-member panel to consider his release.
For prisoners sentenced to life, parole is based on evidence of their suitability for release — and to a significant degree, that means evidence of rehabilitation. At the time of the assassination, Mr. Sirhan admitted his guilt. . . . Yet, across the decades that followed, right up through last week, he has not been willing to accept responsibility for his act and has shown little remorse. At his previous parole hearing, in 2016, when asked by Commissioner Brian Roberts to explain how he was involved in the murder, Mr. Sirhan replied, “I was there, and I supposedly shot a gun.”
The commissioner kept pressing: “I’m asking you to tell me what you believe you’re responsible for.”
Mr. Sirhan replied: “It’s a good question. Legally speaking, I’m not guilty of anything.”
And a free article about it:
And her own brother wants him to go free? Good god.
Let the guy rot.
RFK had 11 children, 7 boys and 4 girls. 2 boys died relatively young.
2 of the surviving brothers, RFK Jr and Douglas, support Sirhan’s release. RFK Jr has some strange opinions; he’s a strong environmentalist but also an anti-vaxxer
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - Wikipedia.
6 of them, 3 brothers and 3 sisters, signed a statement denouncing the parole board decision.
1 of them, the eldest, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, doesn’t seem to have made a statement on the issue.