The Scotsman

Trump calls for death penalty for NYC suspect

- By MARGARET NEIGHBOUR

Donald Trump has reiterated calls for the suspect in the New York truck attack to receive the death penalty.

The US president backed away from his threat to send the suspect in the attack to Guantanamo Bay yesterday, ac knowledgin­g that the military judicial process at the Cuban detention centre takes longer than the civilian federal court system.

But Trump called again for the man to be executed, which could complicate the case for prosecutor­s and give defence attorneys a chance to argue the president’s tweets hurt their client’s right to a fair trial.

Trump tweeted ye st erday morning that the case against Say fullo Saipov, 29, “Should move fast. DEATH PENALTY !” He had tweeted on Wednesday night: “NYC terrorist was happy as he asked to hang IS IS flag in his hospital room. He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!”

His comments broke a long standing tradition against presidents commenting on criminal cases.

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