Dear Attorney General Ashcroft:

While the world anxiously awaits your decision on the fate of Zacarias Moussaoui, Lotfi Raissi and the hundreds of suspected Al-Qaeda detainees, I respectfully offer this one piece of advice: Don’t take the easy way out and give them the death penalty.

I do not base my advice on any of the traditional arguments. You are most likely fed up with hearing those from the leaders of the European Union or those fervently against it in the United States, who say that the death penalty is antiquated, barbaric and inhumane.

I believe the death penalty is too good and too easy a punishment for those terrorists.

If the suspects are found guilty of their numerous terrorist and conspiracy charges, they do not deserve the gift of death. In fact, Mr. Ashcroft, if you decide to give them the death penalty, you will betray every victim of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Those terrorists were sent on a jihad, a holy war, on a mission of martyrdom.

Osama bin Laden addressed this mission of martyrdom, as evidenced from the transcript of the tape printed Dec. 13, 2001 in The Washington Post.

In it, bin Laden was quoted as saying, “”The brothers who conducted the operation, all they knew was that they have a martyrdom operation, and we asked each of them to go to America, but they didn’t know anything about the operation, not even one letter.””

It is clear from the words of bin Laden that he sent willing followers to the United States to fight a jihad, which they knew would end their own lives. The 19 terrorists on the planes fulfilled their “”martyrdom operation,”” sealing it with not only the deaths of thousands of innocent people, but also with their own.

But if Moussaoui, Raissi and the hundreds of other suspected Al-Qaeda detainees are found guilty, they must remain alive. We should not grant them the means to complete their mission, which is achieved through death.

Every minute of every day that the terrorists remain alive will serve as the perfect justice, for breathing the air of the hated United States will serve as a constant reminder that they were captured before they could complete their operation of martyrdom. The only true, harsh, just punishment is to give them a sentence of bitter life, knowing they have failed in their beloved jihad. It would be the perfect justice.

For this reason, the death penalty is completely out of the question. Only through life will the terrorists truly suffer. It is incumbent upon you, Mr. Ashcroft, to now fashion the perfect punishment for those “”evildoers.””

If it is your wish to punish those found guilty with the same measure of suffering that they inflicted, then I propose two separate plans, depending on what outcome you desire.

The convicted terrorists could be sentenced to help with the cleanup of the World Trade Center, thus helping to rebuild the very symbol of America they tried to destroy. The convicted could then clean the new building every day until they die. There could be no worse punishment for them, because they will wish to be dead.

However, if you prefer a more traditional approach, please take a look at my other plan.

Under this plan, those found guilty will be transferred to serve out the rest of their lives in the worst prisons of New York. Of course, these transfers need not be done secretly; in fact, I think that some publicity would be helpful.

In the hierarchy of prison life, child molesters are the most despised prisoners and most tormented by other inmates. But that will change, I believe, with the transfer of these terrorists to New York prisons, where feelings of anger and grief have left no New Yorker untouched. There could not be a better way for these terrorists to be punished, except to be terrorized daily by the very people they sought to terrify and kill.

I recommend that no terrorist that is or will be tried in connection to the Sept. 11 attacks be granted the option of the death penalty.

Death is too good for them. Death will vault those terrorists to the coveted plateau of martyrdom. The worst punishment of all will be the sentence of life.

Respectfully yours,

Parisa Baharian