Shot in face in aftermath of 9/11, victim pleads for his attacker's life

A MUSLIM man who survived being shot in the face during a deadly post-September 11 rampage has launched a legal bid to save the life of his would-be killer.

Mark Stroman, picture below, is set to be executed on 20 July for murdering two Asian immigrants in Dallas, Texas, as he hunted "Arabs" as part of a hate-filled campaign following the 2001 terrorist atrocity.

A third victim, Rais Bhuiyan, only survived by pretending to be dead after being gunned-down at close range whilst working at a petrol station.

Nearly a decade later, the 37-year-old is now leading calls to save his attacker from the lethal injection in a remarkable act of personal humanity.

Mr Bhuiyan yesterday filed a lawsuit against Governor Rick Perry and other officials in Texas.

He claims his rights as a victim in regards to sentencing have been overlooked by the state, as has his attempts to meet the gunman face-to-face.

Mr Bhuiyan, of Bangladeshi origin, still bears the scars from the attack that left him blind in one eye and with 35 pieces of metal in his face. And he recalls the day of the shooting with clarity.

"He pointed the gun directly at me. From previous experience I thought it was a robbery," he told The Scotsman, adding: "But then he asked me, 'Where are you from?'. I thought it a strange question to ask."

Addicted to drugs and disturbed by the death of his half-sister in the World Trade Centre, the self-confessed white supremacist was mid-way through his deadly campaign when he confronted Mr Bhuiyan.

It had begun five days earlier on September 15 when Stroman walked into a Dallas grocery store owned by Waqar Hasan and shot the Pakistani-born man dead.

The gunman would go on to kill again on 4 October, murdering Indian immigrant Vasudev Patel at a petrol station.

Mr Bhuiyan recalls the moment when he became Stroman's second shotgun victim.

"It felt like a million bee stings on the right side of my face and then I heard an explosion. I looked down on the floor and saw blood was pouring like an open faucet. I thought, 'I'm dying today for sure'."

Despite sustaining horrific wounds to the right side of his face, Mr Bhuiyan survived. And he went on to forgive his attacker.

"I never hated him, I just felt sorry for him because he was disturbed and ignorant," he said.

But it was only after he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca in 2009 that he started to devote more time to campaigning against Stroman's death penalty sentence.

"After I came back from pilgrimage, I thought if we kill him, what are we getting? But if we give him a chance, we can get some good out of it," Mr Bhuiyan said.

He continued: "Stroman's execution will not eradicate hate crimes from this world. The cycle of violence should be stopped, we have suffered enough."

As part of the campaign, Mr Bhuiyan has now launched legal proceedings against Governor Perry, claiming that the state of Texas ignored his rights as a victim.These include an entitlement to victim-offender mediation. Mr Bhuiyan claims his requests to meet Stroman have been ignored by the authorities.

But he has had contact with the killer, who supporters claim is now a reformed man.

But despite the victim's call for clemency, Stroman's chances of a reprieve are slim. Texas accounts for around 45 per cent of all US executions. Mr Perry has presided over 231 since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.