The jury will withdraw today to sentence Zacharias Moussaoui, who on Monday dashed for what Tim McVeigh called a ‘de luxe suicide-by-cop package’. The NYT:

Moussaoui wants to die, or more precisely: to be killed by the enemy. From his point of view this is infinitely better than rotting in a prison cell, as to his mind it qualifies as martyrdom (shaheed) even though he took no active part in 9/11; cf. e.g. the ahadith collection of Muslim: Vol. 20, No. 4694-6. These are some of the benefits of shaheed, as per ahadith he probably accepts:

1. Guaranteed admission to Paradise (Bukhari: Vol. 9, Book 93, No. 555, 621). Ordinary Muslims gain entry only if their good deeds outweigh their sins; otherwise they go to Hell.
2. Instant admission to Paradise (Muslim: Book 1, No. 515). Ordinary Muslims must wait until the Day of Resurrection for their judgment; in the meantime, they suffer the ‘punishment of the grave’.
3. Preferential treatment in Paradise (Bukhari: Vol. 4, Book 52, No. 53; Muslim: Book 19, No. 4440-1; Book 20, No. 4634-6).
4. The right to intercede for seventy family members so these also go to Paradise (Abu-Dawud: Book 14, No. 2516).

There are of course many Muslims who reject some or all of this, but not among Moussaoui’s ilk.

As I have argued in the case of Mohammed Bouyeri — Theo van Gogh’s murderer, who similarly yearned for execution — the upshot here is that life in prison is clearly a stronger deterrent than capital punishment with respect to Jihadi terrorism. The terrorist is not afraid to die whether he succeeds in his mission or not; quite the opposite. If anything can make him lose heart, it is the prospect of being caught alive to suffer lifelong incarceration in a humiliating infidel environment where opportunities for ’struggle in the path of God’, as he understands it, are next to nil.

I am not saying this as a bleeding-heart liberal. Indeed, I also happen to think that even death with no Paradise affixed is too good for such vermin.