Rais Bhuiyan forgave the man who tried to kill him in a hate crime, then campaigned to save him from the death penalty

Ten days after the September 11th attacks in the U.S., Texan Mark Stroman entered the gas station where Rais Bhuiyan was working, asked “Where are you from?” and then shot him in the face.  Rais, who is from Bangladesh, was one of three victims shot during Stroman’s revenge attacks on “Arabs,” and the only one to survive.

Rais Bhuiyan went on to forgive Mark Stroman for trying to kill him, and to campaign vigorously—and internationally—for Stroman’s sentence to be commuted from death, to life without parole. Mark Stroman was executed in Texas on July 20th, 2011. (more…)