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Giving more teeth to the exiting <keyword id="1296827" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Anti-hijacking-Law">anti-hijacking law</keyword>, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=hijackers&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">hijackers</a> will now get <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=death+sentence&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">death sentence</a> in case of death of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=hostages&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">hostages</a> as well as ground staff and airport personnel.

	Earlier, hijackers could be tried for death penalty only in the event of death of the hostages.

	The Anti-Hijacking Act 1982, which was last amended in 1994, was repelled and replaced with a new one.

	After the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC-814 in December, 1999, it was felt that death penalty should be awarded to the perpetrators. The incidents such as 9/11, where aircrafts were used as weapons, also pushed the need to further amend the existing Act.

	The new act provides death sentence for hijacking, killing hostages, security personnel, airline and airport staff; or with life imprisonment and the moveable and immoveable property of such persons shall also be liable to be confiscated.
 The amendments in the Anti-Hijacking Bill, 2014 were cleared by the Cabinet In July 2015 and passed by <keyword id="48510" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Rajya-Sabha">Rajya Sabha</keyword> last week. 
	 

	(Anupama Airy is the Founder and Editor of EnergyInfraPost.com and DefenceAviationPost.com. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:anupama.airy@gmail.com" target="_blank">anupama.airy@gmail.com</a>​, Twitter handle: @anupamaairy)

Hijackers will now get death penalty as India gives more teeth to the anti-hijacking law

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="63113" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Belarus">Belarus</keyword> shared video of a <keyword id="9059" type="POSITION" weightage="60" keywordseo="journalist">journalist</keyword> detained after the government diverted a passenger flight.</li><li><keyword id="132220" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="KGB">KGB</keyword> agents arrested <keyword id="11309422" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="roman-protasevich">Roman Protasevich</keyword>, a critic of President Alexander Lukashenko, Monday.</li><li>Protasevich said authorities treated him "correctly" and "lawfully" as he was taken into custody.</li></ul>Belarusian authorities posted a video of the <keyword id="543807" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Journalist-arrested">journalist arrested</keyword> Monday after the government diverted a flight.A passenger plane en route from Athens, Greece, to Lithuania landed in Minsk, Belarus, after air-traffic operators were warned of a security threat. Pilots on flight FR4978 were ordered to "divert to the nearest airport," citing a potential bomb threat aboard the plane.KGB agents boarded the aircraft soon after and did not find the security threat. <a href="https://www.insider.com/international-outrage-after-belarus-diverted-plane-and-arrested-journalist-2021-5">They arrested the journalist Roman Protasevich</a>, who has been publicly critical of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.Belarusian state media reported it was Lukashenko who gave an "unequivocal order" to ground the jet in Minsk, despite data on <a href="https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/sp-rsm#27cce9a2">Flightradar24</a> showing the plane made a sharp U-turn to land in Belarus, as it was closer to its destination in Lithuania than Minsk, <a href="https://www.insider.com/international-outrage-after-belarus-diverted-plane-and-arrested-journalist-2021-5">Insider's Cheryl Teh</a> reported.In the government video reposted by <a href="https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1396898727676239875">the Minsk reporter Hanna Liubakova</a> later Monday, Protasevich confirmed he was detained by authorities at Minsk National Airport by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. He said he's had "no health concerns" and was treated "correctly" and "lawfully" when taken into custody.Protasevich said he was cooperating with authorities and continued to "provide evidence related to the mass rallies in Minsk," according to a translation by Insider.But eyewitnesses said Protasevich expressed fear and told other passengers on the plane he was "facing the death penalty" as state authorities diverted the plane to take him into custody, Monika Simkiene, a passenger on the flight, told the <a href="https://twitter.com/kjalee/status/1396573062393434118?s=20">AFP</a> reporter Katy Lee."He was not screaming, but it was clear that he was very much afraid. It looked like if the window had been open, he would have jumped out of it," Edvinas Dimsa, another passenger, told Lee.Protasevich's arrest drew <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> outrage, including from Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union's European Commission. She said the "outrageous and illegal behavior of the regime in Belarus will have consequences.""Those responsible for the <keyword id="137187" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ryanair">Ryanair</keyword> hijacking must be sanctioned," von der Leyen said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1396566441370001413">statement</a> on Twitter. "Journalist Roman Protasevich must be released immediately."Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also called the incident an "unprecedented act of state terrorism.""Hijacking of a civilian plane is an unprecedented act of state terrorism. It cannot go unpunished," Morawiecki said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/MorawieckiM">statement</a>, adding that he would <a href="https://twitter.com/MorawieckiM/status/1396486441518125061?s=20">petition</a> for sanctions against Belarus in light of Protasevich's arrest.Katya Ionova contributed to the reporting in this article.

Belarusian authorities post a video of a journalist who was arrested after the government diverted his flight

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="63113" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Belarus">Belarus</keyword> on Sunday diverted a <keyword id="137187" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Ryanair">Ryanair</keyword> plane and arrested a journalist who was on board.</li><li><keyword id="11309422" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="roman-protasevich">Roman Protasevich</keyword>, 26, fled to Poland in 2019 and is accused of terrorism in Belarus.</li><li>Ryanair's CEO said on Monday that Belarusian KGB agents were on the plane during the forced landing.</li></ul>Belarusian KGB agents were on board the Ryanair plane that was abruptly diverted so a dissident journalist could be arrested, the airline's CEO said on Monday.On Sunday, Belarus <a href="https://www.insider.com/international-outrage-after-belarus-diverted-plane-and-arrested-journalist-2021-5">forced a Ryanair plane</a> that was flying from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, to land in Minsk after local air traffic control informed the pilots of a bomb threat.Once on the ground, authorities found no security threat on board, but Belarusian police entered the plane and arrested a passenger, the 26-year-old journalist Roman Protasevich.Protasevich is one of Belarusian President <keyword id="375957" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Alexander-Lukashenko">Alexander Lukashenko</keyword>'s most vocal critics. He had been living in Poland since 2019 over fears for his safety, and has continued to criticize Lukashenko from afar.Lukashenko personally deployed a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the plane to Minsk, <a href="https://t.co/dEJNaxw4ix?amp=1">his office</a> said. <h2>'An act of aviation piracy'</h2>Appearing on <a href="https://www.newstalk.com/shows/newstalk-breakfast-234855">Ireland's "Newstalk Breakfast" on Monday</a>, Michael O'Leary, Ryanair's CEO, called the grounding "a case of state-sponsored hijacking" in which "the intent of the authorities was to remove a journalist."<div type="image" title="ryanair activist Roman Protasevich lukashenko" height="1000" width="2000" msid="82907390" hostid="261"></div>O'Leary went on to say that he believed that agents from the State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus, known as the KGB, were on board the plane when it took off from Athens."We believe there were some KGB agents off-loaded at the airport as well," he said, referring to the airport in Minsk.A Ryanair spokesperson told Insider in a Monday statement: "Ryanair condemns the unlawful actions of Belarusian authorities who diverted Ryanair's flight FR4978 to Minsk yesterday (23 May), which was an act of aviation piracy.""This is now being dealt with by EU safety and security agencies &amp; NATO. Ryanair is fully cooperating with them and we cannot comment further for security reasons."World leaders have criticized Lukashenko for what they said is a brazen kidnapping attempt and human-rights violation.Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://twitter.com/SecBlinken/status/1396597056341426185">tweeted</a> on Sunday that the US condemned the "brazen and shocking act." And Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/05/23/communique-of-european-council-president-charles-michel-on-the-incident-involving-a-forced-landing-of-a-ryanair-flight-in-minsk-belarus-on-23-may/">said on Sunday</a> that "the incident will not remain without consequences."Ryanair's initial statement on the grounding, issued on Sunday, made no mention of the bogus security threat or Protasevich's arrest.<h2>'Europe's last dictator'</h2>Lukashenko has been in power in Belarus since 1994, and was recently accused of <a href="https://www.insider.com/belarus-protests-lukashenko-rejected-election-2020-8">manipulating the results of last year's election</a> in his favor. He has long been called "Europe's Last Dictator."<a href="https://www.belarus.by/en/press-center/belarus-presidential-election-news/belarus-cec-updates-preliminary-voting-results_i_0000117310.html">His office said</a> at the time that he had won just over 80% of the vote, but EU foreign minister Josep Borrell <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/08/11/eu-foreign-minister-belarus-elections-were-neither-free-nor-fair">said</a> the election was "neither free nor fair." Since the election, Lukashenko's administration has <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-state-tv-bruised-protesters-promise-give-up-election-fraud-2020-8">cracked down on opposition</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-state-tv-bruised-protesters-promise-give-up-election-fraud-2020-8">limited access to the internet</a>, shut down independent media outlets, and jailed activists.Belarus has accused Protasevich, who had in the past edited the popular Telegram channels Nexta and Nexta Live, of terrorism and provoking riots.Last November, the country charged him with inciting public disorder and social hatred, which if convicted could lead to 12 years in prison, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/europe/roman-protasevich.html">The New York Times reported</a>.After the plane was diverted to Minsk on Sunday, Protasevich told fellow passengers that he was "facing the death penalty," <a href="https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lithuania/prievarta-minske-nutupdytame-lektuve-buve-lietuviai-cituoja-paskutinius-protaseviciaus-zodzius-sake-cia-jo-laukia-mirties-bausme.d?id=87267543">Lithuanian news site Delfi News reported</a>.The Belarusian KGB has included Protasevich on a list of terrorists, The Times reported. If he is convicted of terrorism, he could face the death penalty.

Belarus had KGB agents on the passenger plane that was diverted to arrest a dissident journalist, Ryanair CEO says

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A passenger <keyword id="6356222" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="plane">plane</keyword> flying from Athens to Lithuania was forced to land after a bogus security threat.</li><li>When it was grounded in Minsk, Belarusian police boarded the jet and arrested journalist Roman Protasevich.</li><li>The incident sparked <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> outrage and condemnation from the US, Australia, and <keyword id="6355123" type="LOCATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="eu">EU</keyword> member states.</li></ul>Belarusian authorities on Sunday sent a fighter jet to divert a Ryanair plane, citing a bogus security threat. But when the passenger plane was forced to land in Minsk, police officers boarded the jet and arrested <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/europe/roman-protasevich.html">Roman Protasevich, 26,</a> a journalist known for vocally opposing Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's rule.According to a statement seen by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/23/world/europe/ryanair-belarus.html">The New York Times</a>, Ryanair said the pilots of flight FR4978 - which was flying from Athens to Lithuania - were told by Belarusian air traffic operators that there was a "potential security threat on board." The pilots were then instructed to "divert to the nearest airport," which was in Minsk.<a href="https://www.belta.by/president/view/komandu-prinjat-v-minske-zaminirovannyj-samolet-ryanair-dal-lichno-lukashenko-442580-2021/?/2874">Belarusian state media</a> Belta said it was Lukashenko who gave an "unequivocal order" for the Ryanair plane to land in Minsk, citing a potential bomb threat.But data on <a href="https://www.flightradar24.com/data/aircraft/sp-rsm#27cce9a2">Flightradar.com</a> showed that the plane was closer to its destination in Vilnius, Lithuania, than it was to Minsk and maps the sharp u-turn that the jet took to land in <keyword id="63113" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Belarus">Belarus</keyword>.The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57219860">BBC</a> wrote that Belarus sent a MiG-29 fighter jet to escort the plane - which was carrying 171 passengers - to the Minsk airport. Authorities didn't find a security threat on board, but Belarusian police instead hauled Protasevich off the flight.The BBC reported that the plane landed in Lithuania seven hours after its scheduled arrival time.According to Lithuanian <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword> site <a href="https://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lithuania/prievarta-minske-nutupdytame-lektuve-buve-lietuviai-cituoja-paskutinius-protaseviciaus-zodzius-sake-cia-jo-laukia-mirties-bausme.d?id=87267543">Delfi News</a>, when it was announced that the plane would be landing in Minsk, Protasevich looked fearful and told passengers on the plane that he was "facing the death penalty" there."He was not screaming, but it was clear that he was very much afraid. It looked like if the window had been open, he would have jumped out of it," said passenger Edvinas Dimsa <a href="https://twitter.com/kjalee/status/1396573062393434118?s=20">to the AFP.</a><a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-forces-vilnius-bound-ryanair-plane-land-detain-blogger-2021-05-23/">Reuters</a> spoke to a Lithuanian passenger who wanted to be known as Mantas, who said he saw Protasevich open an overhead locker. Mantas added that Protasevich then passed a laptop and phone to a female passenger who was traveling with him.But Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Sunday at a news conference attended by Reuters that the woman traveling with Protasevich did not make it back onto the plane when it departed from Minsk.Protasevich was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/world/europe/belarus-blogger-poland-svetlov.html">NEXTA, a news channel based in Poland</a> that spread clips of mass protests against Lukashenko via encrypted messaging app Telegram. This was one of the only ways such information could be transmitted in the country after a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-53753412">government clampdown on mass media.</a> The <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/23/belarus-diverts-ryanair-plane-to-arrest-blogger-says-opposition">Guardian</a> wrote that before his arrest on Sunday, Protasevich had been branded as an extremist by the Belarusian government and was wanted on several charges - including terrorism and organizing riots - all of which he denies.Thousands of Belarusians <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/protests-in-belarus-continue-in-hopes-of-forcing-new-election-11598202171?mod=article_inline">protested for several weeks</a> last August after Lukashenko <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/belarus-votes-after-waves-of-arrests-ahead-of-pivotal-election-11596978557?mod=article_inline">claimed</a> he won the presidential election - and his sixth term - with 80% of the vote. Lukashenko <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-55108312">has ruled Belarus since 1994</a> and is <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/08/25/905808711/facing-the-biggest-challenge-ever-to-his-power-lukashenko-looks-to-russia-for-he">backed by the Russian government</a>.<h2>Journalist's arrest sparks international condemnation from US, EU </h2><div type="image" title="roman protasevich protest" height="2663" width="3551" msid="82900907" hostid="261"></div>The incident has sparked anger from the US, Australia, and EU member states. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken <a href="https://www.state.gov/diversion-of-ryanair-flight-to-belarus-and-arrest-of-journalist/">strongly condemned Protasevich's arrest</a> and demanded his immediate release. "This shocking act perpetrated by the Lukashenko regime endangered the lives of more than 120 passengers, including US citizens," Blinken said in a statement on Sunday night.He added that the US is "closely coordinating" its response with partners, including the EU, Lithuanian, and Greek officials."Given indications the forced landing was based on false pretenses, we support the earliest possible meeting of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization to review these events," Blinken said."The United States once again condemns the Lukashenko regime's ongoing harassment and arbitrary detention of journalists," Blinken added. Meanwhile, EU leaders are calling for strong action - including sanctions - to be taken against Belarus for the shocking diversion of the passenger plane and Protasevich's arrest.Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Union's executive European Commission, said on Sunday that the EUCO would discuss on Monday what actions to take. "The outrageous and illegal behavior of the regime in Belarus will have consequences. Those responsible for the Ryanair hijacking must be sanctioned. Journalist Roman Protasevich must be released immediately," von der Leyen said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/vonderleyen/status/1396566441370001413">statement</a> on Twitter."Hijacking of a civilian plane is an unprecedented act of state terrorism. It cannot go unpunished," <a href="https://twitter.com/MorawieckiM">said</a> Poland Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. He <a href="https://twitter.com/MorawieckiM/status/1396486441518125061?s=20">added</a> that he would petition for sanctions to be imposed against Belarus over the arrest. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/icao/status/1396515815248257027?s=20">tweet</a> that it was "strongly concerned" about the "apparent forced landing" of the Ryanair flight. The ICAO added that this action might have violated the Chicago Convention, a 1944 accord outlining core guidelines for international aviation.<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-k-canada-impose-sanctions-on-belarusian-president-lukashenko-11601400152?mod=article_inline">Sanctions were imposed last year by the UK and Canada against Belarus officials</a> in a bid by a league of Western countries to take Lukashenko's regime to task after he was accused of rigging the elections and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/eu-to-sanction-belarus-officials-for-opposition-crackdown-11598628934?mod=article_inline">repressing peaceful protests.</a>

Belarusian authorities diverted a passenger jet and forced it to land, then arrested a journalist on board

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Belarusian authorities last month diverted a passenger flight in order to arrest a 26-year-old activist. </li><li>The move shocked the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> community, but experts said the step "falls within a certain pattern" for President Alexander <keyword id="379711" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Lukashenko">Lukashenko</keyword>.</li><li>As the autocrat <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-roman-protasevich-praises-alexander-lukashenko-belarus-state-tv-interview-2021-6">doubles down</a> in the aftermath, experts say international attention and action are more important than ever. </li></ul>The <a href="https://go.skimresources.com/?id=35871X943606&amp;isjs=1&amp;jv=15.1.0-stackpath&amp;sref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Froman-protasevich-pleaded-with-ryanair-crew-before-being-detained-2021-5&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.insider.com%2Finternational-outrage-after-belarus-diverted-plane-and-arrested-journalist-2021-5&amp;xguid=&amp;xs=1&amp;xtz=420&amp;xuuid=699363653b5ab6d061ee0b246aefd60c&amp;xjsf=other_click__contextmenu%20%5B2%5Df=other_click__contextmenu%20%5B2%5D">state-sanctioned diversion and detainment</a> of Belarusian dissident journalist <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-protasevich-dissident-journalist-arrested-belarusian-authorities-2021-5">Roman Protasevich</a> last month sparked outrage and reproach around the globe. But experts say the drastic move is emblematic of a larger, more nefarious problem in Eastern Europe: the ongoing corruption and abuses by <keyword id="63113" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Belarus">Belarus</keyword>'s authoritarian president <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-alexander-lukashenko-closer-look-at-the-belarusian-dictator-2021-5">Alexander Lukashenko.</a> Often dubbed "Europe's last dictator," Lukashenko has been in power since 1994, enacting his autocratic rule for nearly as long.But in 2020, Belarus bore witness to a forceful wave of repression following a highly-contested August election, which prompted widespread protests throughout the country. Protasevich's detainment in May, though undeniably shocking, "falls within a certain pattern" for Lukashenko, who <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-prevent-citizens-from-leaving-amid-crackdowns-president-lukashenko-critics-2021-6">continues to pursue</a> a renewed crackdown against any and all critics, according to Rachel Denber, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division.In the days since the hijacking, Lukashenko has doubled down - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarus-prevent-citizens-from-leaving-amid-crackdowns-president-lukashenko-critics-2021-6">issuing a travel ban</a> for most residents and releasing a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-roman-protasevich-praises-alexander-lukashenko-belarus-state-tv-interview-2021-6">suspect video</a> of a detained Protasevich praising the leader and confessing to crimes.Now, with all eyes on Belarus, experts say international action is more imperative than ever.<h2>A state-sanctioned hijacking captivates the globe</h2>On May 23, Belarusian authorities sent a fighter jet to divert a Ryanair plane flying from Athens, Greece, to Vilnius, Lithuania, citing a bogus bomb threat. The passenger plane backtracked, landing in Minsk, where police officers boarded the jet and arrested Protasevich, a 26-year-old journalist and activist, and his girlfriend <a href="https://www.insider.com/girlfriend-of-arrested-journalist-also-detained-following-grounded-flight-2021-5">Sofia Sapega</a>, a 23-year-old Russian student. Passengers on Ryanair Flight 4978 told media outlets that the plane was "just minutes" from its destination in Lithuania when the pilot announced the aircraft would make an emergency landing in the Belarusian capital, after previously flying through the country's airspace. In the aftermath of the abrupt diversion, passengers on the flight told reporters that Protasevich looked <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-protasevich-pleaded-with-ryanair-crew-before-being-detained-2021-5">"shocked" and "scared"</a> following the pilot's announcement, even as the young activist instinctively began collecting his electronics to hand over to Sapega for safekeeping. Ryanair's CEO later said <a href="http://businessinsider.com/belarus-diverted-plane-kgb-agents-onboard-ryanair-ceo-2021-5">KGB agents</a> had been aboard the flight from the start. Franak Viačorka, a senior advisor to exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya and a longtime colleague of Protasevich, told Insider he knows his friend was scared. "He was always afraid of being captured by KGB, it was his nightmare," Viačorka said.The two men were together just before Protasevich's detainment, attending an economic conference in Greece, where Protasevich and Sapega also enjoyed a brief vacation. Weeks earlier, Viačorka said he and Protasevich had discussed the possibility of his capture and made plans for digital and electronic security."But we neglected physical security," Viačorka said. "This was something we did not predict." <h2>An 'excessively paranoid' leader casts aside legality to apprehend a longtime adversary</h2><a href="https://www.belta.by/president/view/komandu-prinjat-v-minske-zaminirovannyj-samolet-ryanair-dal-lichno-lukashenko-442580-2021/?/2874">Belarusian state media</a> has reported that it was Lukashenko, himself, who gave the "unequivocal order" to ground the plane in Minsk - an audacious act by a powerful man driven by the notion that his enemies are out to get him, according to Denber."I think it shows that he wanted to send a message that 'we will find you no matter where you are,'" Denber said. "No one is safe." Viačorka likened Lukashenko's brazen display of power to an "alpha man" wanting to prove to the world he is in control.Lukashenko's moves in the days since seem to confirm Viačorka's characterization of the aging autocrat. On May 24, Belarusian authorities posted videos of both <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/belarusian-authorities-video-of-journalist-arrested-after-government-hijacked-flight-2021-5">Protasevich</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-protasevich-girlfriend-appears-apparent-confession-video-2021-5">Sapega</a> confessing to crimes against the country. <div type="image" title="Roman Protasevich video confession" height="1125" width="1500" msid="83223315" hostid="261"></div>Opposition leaders and Protasevich's own father said the videos were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/roman-protasevich-father-says-looked-beaten-video-confession-forced-2021-5">made under duress</a>, and what appeared to be an injury on Protasevich's face sparked concerns of torture.Then, on Thursday, the young dissident <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/video-roman-protasevich-praises-alexander-lukashenko-belarus-state-tv-interview-2021-6">appeared</a> on Belarusian state TV confessing to organizing "mass unrest" and praising his one-time foe."I realized that many things [Lukashenko] is criticized for are just attempts to pressure him, and that in many moments he acted like...a man with balls of steel," Protasevich says in the video.Ten days after his arrest, the staunch Lukashenko opponent was suddenly praising the autocrat's regime.Protasevich, who began his activism at 16, had been detained several times before during his time freelancing for opposition news outlets before moving to Poland after he was forced out of university. As co-founder and editor-in-chief of NEXTA, an opposition Telegram channel, he focused much of his work on leaking videos and documents from the Lukashenko regime. In 2019, he was drawn back to Belarus, eager to impact real change in Minsk. But Lukashenko's authoritarian grasp was tightening on the country ahead of the 2020 elections, and anticipating impending danger, Protasevich fled to Warsaw for a second time.Protasevich and his allies continued their journalism at NEXTA leading up to the presidential election, playing a vital informational role as Lukashenko's regime shuttered independent media organizations inside the country. But amid mass protests following the country's highly contested 2020 election, Protasevich's journalism evolved into political activism as he began organizing protests against the Belarusian government through NEXTA, which had become the most popular opposition platform in Belarus. "We're journalists, but we also have to do something else," Protasevich told <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/04/world/europe/belarus-blogger-poland-svetlov.html">The New York Times</a> in September. "No one else is left. The opposition leaders are in prison."<h2>Belarus has suffered years of election-cycle repression under Lukashenko's regime</h2>For nearly three decades, Lukashenko has ruled Belarus with a tight grip reminiscent of the country's Soviet past. But he wasn't always an oppositional figure."It's important to remember that [Lukashenko] was quite popular when he was elected in 1994," Denber said.In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's fall, economic despair and widespread corruption reigned throughout the region, casting a tremendous uncertainty over Belarus. Lukashenko offered an appealing message and solution, Denber said. He wanted to stabilize the economy, fight corruption, and provide economic and national stability for the people."But his autocratic...intent to erode democratic freedom and to very brusquely cast aside human rights emerged very quickly," Denber said. <div type="image" title="AP20220708425556" height="1169" width="1559" msid="83223317" hostid="261"></div>By 1996, Lukashenko had already introduced constitutional reforms that strengthened his presidency to the detriment of other government branches and had begun going after his political opponents. By the end of the '90s, Denber said several of Lukashenko's political adversaries had disappeared, some presumed murdered. Thus began a decades-long cycle of election-era repressions targeting independent journalists, human rights defenders, and political protesters. Several election cycles in the aughts sparked protests, Denber said, which in turn, would lead to fierce government crackdowns against civil society. "There were a lot of pretty dark years," she said. After a particularly grim period from 2010 to 2012, Lukashenko's repression eventually gave way to a slight "loosening up," Denber said. By 2019, Belarus had released almost all of its political prisoners, and the European Union and the United States both dropped formerly-imposed sanctions against the country.As the 2020 elections approached, Denber said the government promised a commitment to free and fair elections - it was the first time in years an opposition candidate would be allowed to run a real campaign. But the August elections proved to be an inflection point of massive consequence for Protasevich, Lukashenko, and the future of Belarus.<h2>A 'highly contested' election and a 'catastrophic' crackdown</h2>As campaigning for the landmark election began, it was clear Lukashenko was far from ready to acquiesce power. Leading opposition candidates found themselves arrested, oftentimes on bogus charges, while other candidates were simply refused the opportunity to register.Sergei Tikhanovsky, a well-known blogger faced both a refusal to register his nomination and a short prison sentence for organizing unauthorized protests. So, his wife Svetlana Tikhanovskaya decided to run in his place. "She was able to campaign fairly unimpeded," Denber said. "Nobody expected she would draw the crowd she drew."Her popularity grew among Belarusians in the spring and early summer. In June, Tikhanovskaya received an anonymous phone call threatening her children's life unless she dropped out. She sent her children out of Belarus but stayed in the race. <div type="image" title="AP20217237147735" height="3329" width="4450" msid="83223320" hostid="261"></div>On August 9, the Central Election Commission, which is controlled by Lukashenko's government, announced that the incumbent president had won a sixth term, crediting him with 80% of the vote. Tikhanovskaya's team objected, claiming to have won at least 60% in a first-round victory and calling on Lukashenko to begin negotiations."It's hard to know what percentage of the vote she actually got, but clearly more than anyone expected," Denber said.Negotiations never came. Instead, the government arrested two members of her campaign's Coordination Council and offered the others a false choice: Leave the country or else. "We are dealing with a man who is getting...politically older," Viačorka, Tikhanovskaya's senior advisor said about Lukashenko. "Last year… he became anxious, nervous, and absolutely irrational."During the height of the election outcry in September, Protasevich left Poland to join Tikhanovskaya in Lithuania, cementing himself even further as Lukashenko's enemy. In Belarus, the disputed election set off a mass wave of unprecedented, mostly peaceful protests. Viačorka estimated the movement was one of the biggest progressive movements in Europe in the past 40 years. But the civil demonstrations drew Lukashenko's ire. The government dismantled what independent media was left, targeting and arresting journalists throughout the country; officials restricted internet access for hours in August as protests surged; and security forces detained thousands of people, subjecting hundreds to torture, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2021/country-chapters/belarus">Human Rights Watch</a> reported at the end of 2020. <div type="image" title="AP21145635494062" height="2000" width="4000" msid="83223322" hostid="261"></div>"There are so many people in prison right now," Denber said in May. "Literally hundreds in jail connected to the protest movement." Viačorka believes thousands are still detained. <h2>Experts hope last month's aviation incident will spur international attention and action </h2>Lukashenko's post-elections crackdown stoked anger among ordinary Belarusians, making him even more unpopular throughout the country and prompting dissidents to look for new forms of resistance, Viačorka said.But it was last month's incident - Protasevich and Sapega's detainment - that captured the world's attention. "Last year's oppression was eye-opening for Belarusians...that was a wake-up call for Belarusians," Viačorka said. "Sunday was a wake-up call for the world."Denber agreed, saying she hoped the hijacking would "shock people to read into what else is happening" in the European country, including the death of a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/persecuted-jailed-destroyed-belarus-seeks-stifle-dissent">dissident in prison</a> and the <a href="https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1400454874186145801">arrest of additional journalists</a> since Protasevich's arrest.The US responded to what some countries called a <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/europe/belarus-ryanair-pratasevich-intl/index.html">"state-sanctioned hijacking"</a> with fierce statements of condemnation and a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/28/us-reimpose-sanctions-belarus-after-forced-diversion-ryanair-flight/">re-imposition of full-blocking sanctions</a> against Belarusian enterprises and a handful of key members in the regime. The EU prepared its own <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/exclusive-eu-blacklist-belarus-airline-ahead-economic-sanctions-diplomats-say-2021-06-01/">package of sanctions</a> targeting the country's national airline and top aviation officials, as well as the Belarusian economy.All 27 members of the EU also <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/24/belarus-ryanair-airplane-hijack-journalist/">agreed to bar</a> European airlines from flying through Belarusian airspace and block Belarus's national airline from flying through or landing in the EU. But the EU may be in a bind moving forward. As the West moves to isolate Belarus even further, the closer it pushes Lukashenko to Vladimir Putin, his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/world/europe/putin-lukashenko-belarus-ryanair.html">complicated, on-again-off-again Russian ally</a>.Many top officials believe it was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/putin-likely-gave-belarus-go-ahead-to-hijack-ryanair-plane-2021-5">Putin who gave Belarus the green light to divert the Ryanair flight.</a><div type="image" title="AP20299596629941" height="2016" width="4032" msid="83223324" hostid="261"></div>But Tikhanovskaya and Viačorka are pressing international allies to think beyond last month's incident. On Tuesday, the opposition leader <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/belarus-opposition-leader-calls-more-us-sanctions-against-government-2021-06-01/">called for more US sanctions</a>, imploring the country to take further action against enterprises and individuals supporting the Lukashenko regime."Sanctions should help to stop the violence and help release all of political prisoners," she said after meeting with senators from the US Foreign Relations Committee.Viačorka and the opposition who remain free will continue to put pressure on the regime, fighting for new, free elections and democratic reforms, he said. He's also compelling Western politicians to help."I urge Americans and Europeans, be braver, be strong," he told Insider. "The regime is the problem and if you don't want North Korea in the the center of Europe, try to do everything to shut it down, please."As for Protasevich, his future remains uncertain. Last week, his <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/detained-belarusian-journalist-roman-protasevich-mother-asks-us-eu-help-2021-5">mother begged</a> the US and EU to help free her son, who faces charges of terrorism and inciting anti-government riots. On Wednesday, Lukashenko <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/independentpremium/world/lukashenko-roman-protasevich-death-penalty-b1858382.html">intimated</a> that Protasevich may face the death penalty for his "crimes" in Belarus - the last country in Europe to employ the practice. But Viačorka knows that his friend is only one prisoner in an ongoing war."It's not about Roman. We don't want to trade for Roman only," he said. "He will be released only when all prisoners will be released."

The 'shocking' arrest of a Belarusian dissident aboard a Ryanair flight marks a pattern of authoritarianism from 'Europe's last dictator'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>In July, the Biden administration released a 19-year detainee from Guantánamo Bay.</li><li>Biden has said he hopes to close the military prison in Cuba, where 39 people remain incarcerated.</li><li>But closing it is complicated by concerns over releasing prisoners, and the military's court system.</li></ul>Last month, the Biden administration released a Moroccan man who had been held at Guantánamo Bay for nearly two decades without ever being charged with a crime.Abdul Latif Nasser arrived at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba in 2002. The US accused him of being involved with the Taliban, but charges were never brought against him and he was cleared for release in 2016.It would be another five years until he was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guantanamo-bay-biden-admin-releases-detainee-2021-7">transferred out of the camp</a> and repatriated to his home country.Nasser was one of many detained at Guantánamo without ever being charged with a crime. Of the 39 detainees that remain, 27 are held as Nassar was: as law-of-war detainees without charge or trial, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/guantanamo-bay-detainees.html#rec-transfer">The New York Times</a>."They're called forever prisoners, because they'll be held forever," Mark Denbeaux, a lawyer and law professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, told Insider, referring to those who have not been cleared for release.His client, Abu Zubaydah, the first person to undergo <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guantanamo-detainee-drawings-cia-torture-2019-12">torture at the hands of the CIA's enhanced interrogation program</a>, is one of them.Denbeaux, who served on the Obama transition team and was focused on the closure of Guantánamo, called the recent release "very significant." He said he is confident President Joe Biden wants to continue the effort started by former President Barack Obama and close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp for good.But between the forever prisoners and those awaiting trial, including some accused of involvement in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it's not a straightforward task.<h2>Who the 'forever prisoners' are</h2>The term forever prisoners refers to detainees who have not been charged and are never expected to face trial, but that the government deems too dangerous to release.Kevin Powers, a lawyer, professor and director of the Cybersecurity Policy and Governance Program at Boston College, explained the detainees are not considered regular prisoners of war. Instead, they are classified as unlawful combatants, or alien unprivileged enemy belligerents.Powers also worked as a legal adviser for the Department of Defense on some cases at Guantánamo Bay from 2011 to 2013."The reason they're unlawful combatants is because they don't follow the rules of combat under the <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international" source="Orion">international</keyword> rule of war," Powers told Insider. "So they're not entitled to the rights of prisoners of war."Unlike with regular prisoners of war, he said, the US "can hold them without bringing charges or anything like that until the end of hostilities."So because the US is still considered at war with Al Qaeda and its allies, the government does not need to charge the detainees and can continue to hold them under international law of war as long as the war is ongoing.<h2>Cleared for transfer but still awaiting release</h2>Since 2013, a panel of six government agencies, including the CIA and the FBI, has occasionally reviewed detainee cases and authorized people for release. Acting similarly to a parole board, the <a href="https://www.prs.mil/About-the-PRB/">Periodic Review Board</a> has already cleared <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-release.html">several detainees</a> since Biden took office.Of the 27 prisoners currently held without charges, 10 have been recommended for transfer, but even then their releases are delayed.Upon release, detainees are typically sent to countries that have agreed to keep them under certain security arrangements required by the US. So before the releases can happen the US must come to a diplomatic agreement with another government that is willing to take them, be it the detainee's home country or somewhere else entirely.Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Congress in June the Biden administration is looking into appointing someone to work full-time on arranging the transfers and closing Guantánamo, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/17/us/politics/guantanamo-detainees-transfer.html">The Times' Carol Rosenberg reported</a>.<h2>Detainees accused of war crimes await trials under a <keyword id="11971606" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="military-commission" source="Orion">military commission</keyword> system</h2>Others at Guantánamo have been charged with war crimes and are awaiting trial, some for many years.Denbeaux said freeing the "forever prisoners" and those cleared for release is likely a simpler task than addressing those who have been charged with crimes.That's largely because the prisoners are not on trial in a US federal court. Under the <a href="https://www.mc.mil/ABOUTUS.aspx">Military Commissions Act of 2009</a>, Guantánamo detainees are charged and tried by a military commission under a legal system established and run by the US military."Our American court systems work very, very well," Denbeaux said, adding they were formed over the course of hundreds of years. But he said the military basically invented a new court system that still has a lot of kinks to work out.Powers echoed those remarks. He commended the judges and lawyers working on the cases but said he didn't think the current system was set up for success when it comes to the Guantánamo detainees."The federal courts are used to handling big litigations like this. The military commissions are new," Powers said. "It was kind of like building the plane while you're trying to fly it. It doesn't work."<h2>Trial delays for the five men accused of plotting the 9/11 terrorist attacks</h2>The most apparent example seems to be the case of Guantánamo's most notorious prisoners, the five men accused of being involved in planning the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the US that killed nearly 3,000 Americans two decades ago.The men, captured in 2002 and 2003, are accused of directing or assisting the 19 hijackers who crashed four passenger planes on US soil within hours of each other on that day. Two flew into the World Trade Center, one crashed into the Pentagon, and another crashed into a Pennsylvania field. The charges include <keyword id="11895207" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="terrorism" source="Orion">terrorism</keyword>, murder in violation of the law of war, and conspiracy, which, if convicted, would result in the death penalty.Despite the suspects being arraigned in 2012, the trial has been plagued by years of delays. Under the military commission system, prosecutors and defense attorneys have been arguing over what evidence is admissible in court, what can be withheld from the defense for security reasons, and even what laws apply, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/september-11-trial-guantanamo-bay.html">The Times</a>.The defense has argued testimony from FBI interrogations, the ones that did not include tactics like waterboarding or sleep deprivation, should be inadmissible because their clients were conditioned by torture to say what interrogators wanted to hear.But Powers said the location alone may be the biggest reason the trials have progressed so slowly. The judges and lawyers are typically commuting to Cuba, a tropical island with unpredictable weather, for hearings and motions. He said a hearing may be held for a case once every other month. If everyone, the judges, lawyers, and detainees, were all in one location, either in Cuba or in the US, "you could have regular motion practice every day," he said.But US politicians have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/11/us/politics/senate-passes-military-bill-that-bars-transfers-of-guantanamo-detainees.html">long rejected</a> the idea of trying or transferring the detainees onto American soil.The trial has also been delayed by personnel turnover and the COVID-19 pandemic, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/us/politics/911-trial-guantanamo.html">The Times</a> reported. And whenever the trial does happen, it could then go through years of appeals, potentially all the way up to the Supreme Court.All things considered, the closing of the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay appears to be far out of reach.

'Forever prisoners': 39 remain at Guantanamo Bay 20 years after 9/11, including some who have never been charged

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The career, nonpartisan officials who blew the whistle on President <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-donald-trump-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> and testified against him are <a href="https://time.com/guardians-of-the-year-2019-public-servants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TIME Magazine's 2019 "Guardians of the Year."</a></li><li>Among those named in the profile are the whistleblower who first sounded the alarm on Trump's efforts to strongarm Ukraine for political gain; former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch; the US's chargé d'affaires in Ukraine Bill Taylor; former White House Russia hawk Fiona Hill; the White House's top Ukraine expert Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman; and more.</li><li>"For each, the decision to step forward came at a cost," TIME reported. And after some agreed to share their experiences, "several became emotional when speaking about what they described as the most difficult weeks of their careers."</li><li>The witnesses have gone back to living their lives after testifying, with some notable differences.</li><li>TIME reported that Hill received a flood of letters of support after she testified, while Yovanovitch received a standing ovation after she was recognized at a jazz club in Washington, DC.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The career, nonpartisan officials who blew the whistle on President <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-donald-trump-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> and testified against him are <a href="https://time.com/guardians-of-the-year-2019-public-servants/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TIME Magazine's 2019 "Guardians of the Year."</a>For more than two months, the magazine said, the president "attacked the public servants as 'traitors' and 'human scum.'" At the US Mission to the United Nations, he suggested the proper response to the whistle-blower's complaint was the punishment historically reserved for 'spies' and for 'treason': the death penalty."Among the individuals who were named were:<ul><li>The whistleblower who first sounded the alarm on Trump's efforts to strongarm Ukraine into delivering political dirt on his rival in exchange for vital military aid and a White House meeting.</li><li>Marie Yovanovitch, the US's former ambassador to Ukraine who was attacked and forced out of her position for refusing to go along with Trump's and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani's scheme.</li><li>Bill Taylor, the career diplomat who replaced Yovanovitch and testified to the extent of the quid pro quo Trump and Giuliani were engaged in.</li><li>Fiona Hill, the National Security Council's former senior director for Russian and Eurasian affairs, who witnessed and reported what she described as the "domestic political errand" that had hijacked US foreign policy.</li><li>Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the NSC's top Ukraine expert who witnessed the July 25 phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry and reported his concerns up the chain of command.</li><li>David Holmes, a member of Taylor's staff who directly witnessed Trump's effort to dig up political dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden during a phone call with Gordon Sondland, the US's ambassador to the EU, on July 26.</li><li>Mark Sandy, an official at the Office of Management and Budget who struggled to understand why Trump withheld military aid after Congress approved it, and raised concerns about it to his superior.</li></ul>Yovanovitch, Taylor, Hill, and Vindman are featured on the cover.The majority of concerns these officials raised were buried by political forces higher up in the hierarchy. Still, when Congress called on them to testify - with the exception of the whistleblower, who remains anonymous amid concerns for their safety - they stepped forward to break their silence in direct defiance of the White House's orders."For each, the decision to step forward came at a cost," TIME said. "And though each followed the rules and used the proper channels, some have found themselves vilified online, their decades of government service impugned and their background questioned. Several have been assailed publicly by the President."Indeed, Vindman in particular was singled out for his background as an immigrant. The Purple Heart recipient whose family fled the Soviet Union when he was a toddler found himself the target of attacks from Trump's conservative allies who suggested that because Vindman was an immigrant, he was disloyal to the US.Yovanovitch, meanwhile, was attacked by Trump while she was in the middle of testifying. After Yovanovitch told lawmakers that she felt threatened by Trump's comments about her in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the president took to Twitter to smear Yovanovitch's decades of foreign service, an action she described as being "very intimidating."Trump has slammed others who testified against him, like Taylor, Sandy, and Hill, as being "Never Trumpers" and "radical unelected bureaucrats," characterizations all of them disputed, while stressing that they were not there to advocate for any particular outcome but as fact witnesses.The whistleblower, without whom Congress and the public never would have learned of Trump's scheme, has been the subject of some of the most virulent attacks from Trump and his loyalists, who have accused the individual of treason and espionage, both of which are punishable by death.TIME noted that initially, none of the individuals named in the article would speak to the news outlet out of fear of retribution and for their and their families' safety.Eventually, after some agreed to share their experiences, "several became emotional when speaking about what they described as the most difficult weeks of their careers," TIME reported. Since the officials testified, Congress has moved ahead with impeachment proceedings against Trump, announcing yesterday that they would charge the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.The evidence against Trump, as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff put it, is "overwhelming and undisputed," and shows that his actions threatened US national security and undermined the country's interests in favor of Trump's own personal benefit.The witnesses, meanwhile, have gone back to living their lives. TIME reported that Taylor, Holmes, and others who testified are in Kyiv trying to steer the ship back on track even as Giuliani continues trying to hijack Ukraine policy. Vindman and Sandy still work at the NSC and OMB, respectively.But there are some notable differences.Yovanovitch and Hill are out of public life but not out of the spotlight. The magazine reported that Hill received a flood of letters of support after she testified, while Yovanovitch received a standing ovation after she was recognized at a jazz club in Washington, DC.

The public servants Trump smeared as 'traitors' and 'human scum' are TIME Magazine's 2019 'Guardians of the Year'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boston-bomber-sentencing-2015-5">sentenced to death</a>, but it may be years before he's executed because of a lengthy appeals process. Yet when he is put to death by lethal injection, it's expected to be at the US Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.Terre Haute is a high-security prison that houses federal death-row inmates. The last federal execution, of Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh, was conducted at Terre Haute in 2001.Though US Penitentiary Terre Haute has been open since 1940, Tsarnaev would likely be held in the Communications Management Units, a special unit opened in 2006 for terrorism-related offenses. Because of the prison's reputation for housing some of the country's biggest security threats, some have called it "<a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/creating-gitmo-north-alarming-step-says-aclu">Guantanamo North."</a> According to NPR, the units <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134168714/guantanamo-north-inside-u-s-secretive-prisons">have 50 cells and house many men convicted in notable post-9/11 cases</a>, as well as those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1999 "Millennium" plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport, and multiple hijacking cases. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div> High-profile inmates at Terre Haute include John Walker Lindh, known as the "American Taliban," and Somali pirate Abdulwali Abdukhad Muse, whose hijacking was dramatized in the film "Captain Phillips."The Communication Management Units in the prison <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Documents_show_new_secretive_new_US_0216.html">severely restrict communications between inmates and the outside world</a>. Inmates are limited to two two-hour nonphysical visits per month, plus one 15-minute phone call per week. Mail must be screened, copied, and evaluated before being delivered to inmates. All conversations must be in English.Sister Rita Clare Gerardot, who has been a spiritual adviser to death-row inmates at Terre Haute, once described the experience of death row inmates at the facility:"<a href="http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/death-row-or-life-in-prison-for-tsarnaev/article_29f21f5f-dc60-53bf-9139-6707fc11005d.html">They are in a small cell by themselves</a>. All their meals are pushed through a slot. There is no recreation, but they can go out of their cells three times a week into cages," Gerardot told The Tribune-Star, a newspaper in Terre Haute.Inmates can speak to one another from the front of their cells, according to Gerardot, and have limited time to use a phone, e-mail, or a library.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>"Truthfully, I don't know how they keep their sanity. They have to be persons of great strength of will to get up every day, and know they have no choices," Gerardot said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Though 74 people have been sentenced to death in federal cases since the 1988 reinstatement of the federal death penalty, three people <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/us/federal-sentences-death-row/">have been executed</a>. The Boston Globe <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2015/04/09/how-tsarnaev-will-die-sentenced-die/db6AiRsTO4N7D4MGyxMnHL/story.html">put together the details of how Tsarnaev would likely be executed</a>. Here are some of the details from the Bureau of Prisons' "Execution Protocol":Location: Executions are performed at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. A judge may choose to relocate the execution to a state where the death penalty is legal if that would be more convenient for victims and family members to access.Last meal: Between three and 12 hours before death, those condemned to die receive a last meal of their choosing, cooked by prison staff. Alcohol is not allowed.Clothing: The condemned individual is dressed in khaki pants, a white T-shirt, white socks, and slip-on shoes.Method of execution: Lethal injection is the only approved method of execution for the federal government. Other options could be considered in the Justice Department's review.Witnesses: Up to eight victims or victim's family members can watch the execution. The condemned individual can choose one spiritual advisor, two attorneys, and three family or friends to be present. They are located outside the execution room and can watch through a window.Media: Ten members of the media are allowed to watch the final moments through a window. There are no cameras or recording devices allowed in the building.Last words: The prisoner set to be executed is allowed to give a "reasonably brief" final statement. Those are then transcribed and given to media members.The signal: The U.S. marshal says "We are ready." The executioner delivers the lethal drugs.Time of death: The exact time of death is recorded, and takes place in the early morning. Jones was executed at 7:08 a.m., McVeigh at 7:14 a.m., and Garza at 7:09 a.m.Responsibility for remains: The death row inmate is allowed to designate a person to handle disposing their body after death.

What it's like inside the terrifying super-max prison where the Boston Bomber is expected to be executed

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/boston-bomber-sentencing-2015-5">sentenced to death</a>, but it may be years before he's executed because of a lengthy appeals process. Yet when he is put to death by lethal injection, it's expected to be at the US Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.Terre Haute is a high-security prison that houses federal death-row inmates. The last federal execution, of Oklahoma City Bomber Timothy McVeigh, was conducted at Terre Haute in 2001.Though US Penitentiary Terre Haute has been open since 1940, Tsarnaev would likely be held in the Communications Management Units, a special unit opened in 2006 for terrorism-related offenses. Because of the prison's reputation for housing some of the country's biggest security threats, some have called it "<a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/creating-gitmo-north-alarming-step-says-aclu">Guantanamo North."</a> According to NPR, the units <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134168714/guantanamo-north-inside-u-s-secretive-prisons">have 50 cells and house many men convicted in notable post-9/11 cases</a>, as well as those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1999 "Millennium" plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport, and multiple hijacking cases. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div> High-profile inmates at Terre Haute include John Walker Lindh, known as the "American Taliban," and Somali pirate Abdulwali Abdukhad Muse, whose hijacking was dramatized in the film "Captain Phillips."The Communication Management Units in the prison <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Documents_show_new_secretive_new_US_0216.html">severely restrict communications between inmates and the outside world</a>. Inmates are limited to two two-hour nonphysical visits per month, plus one 15-minute phone call per week. Mail must be screened, copied, and evaluated before being delivered to inmates. All conversations must be in English.Sister Rita Clare Gerardot, who has been a spiritual adviser to death-row inmates at Terre Haute, once described the experience of death row inmates at the facility:"<a href="http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/death-row-or-life-in-prison-for-tsarnaev/article_29f21f5f-dc60-53bf-9139-6707fc11005d.html">They are in a small cell by themselves</a>. All their meals are pushed through a slot. There is no recreation, but they can go out of their cells three times a week into cages," Gerardot told The Tribune-Star, a newspaper in Terre Haute.Inmates can speak to one another from the front of their cells, according to Gerardot, and have limited time to use a phone, e-mail, or a library.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"Truthfully, I don't know how they keep their sanity. They have to be persons of great strength of will to get up every day, and know they have no choices," Gerardot said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Though 74 people have been sentenced to death in federal cases since the 1988 reinstatement of the federal death penalty, three people <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/us/federal-sentences-death-row/">have been executed</a>. The Boston Globe <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2015/04/09/how-tsarnaev-will-die-sentenced-die/db6AiRsTO4N7D4MGyxMnHL/story.html">put together the details of how Tsarnaev would likely be executed</a>. Here are some of the details from the Bureau of Prisons' "Execution Protocol":Location: Executions are performed at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. A judge may choose to relocate the execution to a state where the death penalty is legal if that would be more convenient for victims and family members to access.Last meal: Between three and 12 hours before death, those condemned to die receive a last meal of their choosing, cooked by prison staff. Alcohol is not allowed.Clothing: The condemned individual is dressed in khaki pants, a white T-shirt, white socks, and slip-on shoes.Method of execution: Lethal injection is the only approved method of execution for the federal government. Other options could be considered in the Justice Department's review.Witnesses: Up to eight victims or victim's family members can watch the execution. The condemned individual can choose one spiritual advisor, two attorneys, and three family or friends to be present. They are located outside the execution room and can watch through a window.Media: Ten members of the media are allowed to watch the final moments through a window. There are no cameras or recording devices allowed in the building.Last words: The prisoner set to be executed is allowed to give a "reasonably brief" final statement. Those are then transcribed and given to media members.The signal: The U.S. marshal says "We are ready." The executioner delivers the lethal drugs.Time of death: The exact time of death is recorded, and takes place in the early morning. Jones was executed at 7:08 a.m., McVeigh at 7:14 a.m., and Garza at 7:09 a.m.Responsibility for remains: The death row inmate is allowed to designate a person to handle disposing their body after death.

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Judge <a href="https://twitter.com/GlobeCullen/status/613766083028369408">George O' Toole confirmed</a> in court Wednesday that Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will face his death sentence at the US penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, though a lengthy appeals process will likely precede his execution. Terre Haute is a high-security prison complex consisting of a maximum-security penitentiary, a medium-security federal correctional institute, and a low-security camp. The maximum-security facility houses federal death-row inmates. The last federal execution, of Gulf War veteran and murderer/rapist Louis Jones Jr, was conducted at Terre Haute in 2003.Because Tsarnaev is on death row, he would likely be held in the Special Confinement Unit, a <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/2001/06/08/terre-haute-prison-prepares-for-executions/">special unit for death row inmates</a>. In the past, it has housed as many as 21 inmates at a time. The ACLU accused the penitentiary of having "grossly inadequate" conditions at the Special Confinement Unit in 2008, saying that those on death row were <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/aclu-investigation-reveals-grossly-inadequate-conditions-federal-death-row">routinely denied basic medical care, mental health services</a>, and were subject to incessant noise that causes sleep deprivation.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>Sister Rita Clare Gerardot, who has been a spiritual adviser to death-row inmates at Terre Haute, once described the experience of death row inmates at the facility:"<a href="http://www.tribstar.com/news/local_news/death-row-or-life-in-prison-for-tsarnaev/article_29f21f5f-dc60-53bf-9139-6707fc11005d.html">They are in a small cell by themselves</a>. All their meals are pushed through a slot. There is no recreation, but they can go out of their cells three times a week into cages," Gerardot told The Tribune-Star, a newspaper in Terre Haute.Inmates can speak to one another from the front of their cells, according to Gerardot, and have limited time to use a phone, e-mail, or a library."Truthfully, I don't know how they keep their sanity. They have to be persons of great strength of will to get up every day, and know they have no choices," Gerardot said.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The facility also houses a special unit opened in 2006 for terrorism-related offenses called the Communications Management Units (CMU).Because of the CMU's reputation for housing some of the country's biggest security threats, some have called Terre Haute "<a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/creating-gitmo-north-alarming-step-says-aclu">Guantanamo North."</a>According to NPR, the units <a href="http://www.npr.org/2011/03/03/134168714/guantanamo-north-inside-u-s-secretive-prisons">have 50 cells and house many men convicted in notable post-9/11 cases</a>, as well as those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the 1999 "Millennium" plot to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport, and multiple hijacking cases.High-profile inmates at Terre Haute include John Walker Lindh, known as the "American Taliban," and Somali pirate Abdulwali Abdukhad Muse, whose hijacking was dramatized in the film "Captain Phillips."The Communication Management Units in the prison <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Documents_show_new_secretive_new_US_0216.html">severely restrict communications between inmates and the outside world</a>. Inmates are limited to two two-hour nonphysical visits per month, plus one 15-minute phone call per week. Mail must be screened, copied, and evaluated before being delivered to inmates. All conversations must be in English.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div> Though 74 people have been sentenced to death in federal cases since the 1988 reinstatement of the federal death penalty, three people <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/15/us/federal-sentences-death-row/">have been executed</a>.The Boston Globe <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/nation/2015/04/09/how-tsarnaev-will-die-sentenced-die/db6AiRsTO4N7D4MGyxMnHL/story.html">put together the details of how Tsarnaev would likely be executed</a>. Here are some of the details from the Bureau of Prisons' "Execution Protocol":Location: Executions are performed at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. A judge may choose to relocate the execution to a state where the death penalty is legal if that would be more convenient for victims and family members to access.Last meal: Between three and 12 hours before death, those condemned to die receive a last meal of their choosing, cooked by prison staff. Alcohol is not allowed.Clothing: The condemned individual is dressed in khaki pants, a white T-shirt, white socks, and slip-on shoes.Method of execution: Lethal injection is the only approved method of execution for the federal government. Other options could be considered in the Justice Department's review.Witnesses: Up to eight victims or victim's family members can watch the execution. The condemned individual can choose one spiritual advisor, two attorneys, and three family or friends to be present. They are located outside the execution room and can watch through a window.Media: Ten members of the media are allowed to watch the final moments through a window. There are no cameras or recording devices allowed in the building.Last words: The prisoner set to be executed is allowed to give a "reasonably brief" final statement. Those are then transcribed and given to media members.The signal: The U.S. marshal says "We are ready." The executioner delivers the lethal drugs.Time of death: The exact time of death is recorded, and takes place in the early morning. Jones was executed at 7:08 a.m., McVeigh at 7:14 a.m., and Garza at 7:09 a.m.Responsibility for remains: The death row inmate is allowed to designate a person to handle disposing their body after death.

What it's like inside the terrifying super-max prison where the Boston Bomber will be executed

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>Whether or not Chris Roberts, the security researcher who recently <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/plane-hacker-talks-about-plane-hacking-at-grrcon-2012-2015-5">claimed to have hacked into</a> the flight control system of a plane while it was in flight, was telling the truth about his ability to hijack a plane, we've most definitely entered the era of cybercrime.The idea that a criminal group could electronically take control of a plane - or flight control system or power grid - <a href="http://gizmodo.com/how-a-hacker-could-hijack-an-airplane-from-their-seat-1705735617">is feasible</a>.As everything connects to the internet we become more and more vulnerable to cybercrime. In February, the world found out that the Carbanak criminal organization had stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world over the past two years, hacking into their systems, transferring money out, and having bank ATMs automatically dispense cash that they then picked up from the machines. These cyber-robberies are still going on, <a href="http://www.kaspersky.com/about/news/virus/2015/Carbanak-cybergang-steals-1-bn-USD-from-100-financial-institutions-worldwide">according to the security experts</a> at Kaspersky lab.This is just the very beginning of this cybercrime era, according to Marc Goodman, author of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Future-Crimes-Everything-Connected-Vulnerable/dp/0385539002/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8">Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable, And What We Can Do About It</a>," who spoke at Smithsonian Magazine's "<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/future-here-2015-180954528/">The Future is Here</a>" festival.As Goodman explains, right now technological change is occurring at an exponential rate - so fast that our political and legal institutions are completely unable to keep up.Goodman cites <a href="http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/internet-of-things/infographics/guide-to-iot.html">Intel's prediction</a> that we'll go from 15 billion internet-connected devices now to 200 billion in 2020. That's an insane number of devices that can be hacked, and as Goodman says, we can't even keep our existing laptops and smartphones and internet servers safe now: Just look at the <a href="https://corporate.target.com/about/shopping-experience/payment-card-issue-faq">Target breach</a>, where somewhere around 70 million people had their private data stolen by hackers."President Obama recently talked about cybersecurity in the State of the Union address and called for enhanced penalties for identity thieves," Goodman said during his talk. "We're going to need to think much much grander if we're going to solve this problem. I think we need a Manhattan Project for cybersecurity."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Goodman isn't anti-technology - he says that the democratization of these powerful tools, which gives ordinary people access to things that governments and large corporations used to control exclusively is "awesome."It's just that the democratization of technology gives those same tools to those who would use them for ill, and many of us don't realize just how vulnerable we are and how much more vulnerable we become as we tie everything to computers. "What most of us don't quite understand is that we are in the first seconds of the first minutes of the first hours of the internet revolution, and there's tremendous change coming in this century," Goodman says. Just like the invention of the train made it easy for criminals to rob a few hundred people at a time instead of a few people in a stagecoach, the internet makes it easy to rob a few thousand or million people.Connecting our cars and pacemakers and planes and power grids to computers gives us access to computing power that was unimaginable decades ago. But it also means that we have security threats that were unimaginable decades ago, which Goodman says is a potential existential threat to society, the sort of thing that needs to be a national priority as big as the space race or the Manhattan project."If want to have this great modern society we're going to have to protect the critical infrastructures that are running the world," says Goodman. "Today all these computers are hackable, which means that the 21st century modern world that we're building is a digital house of cards that can come crashing down at any moment. We need to protect it because right now, we don't have a backup plan." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/larry-page-shouldnt-cure-death-overpopulation-natural-resources-2015-5">Larry Page is wrong - curing death will be a big mistake</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="plMWk2dTpeJ8h-WqVfqPMUT7hiFXtWtm" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

EXPERT: 'We need a Manhattan Project for cybersecurity'

<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>Known as the "Alcatraz of the Rockies," the ADX maximum security prison in Florence Colorado is home to some of the most violent criminals in US history. The ADX opened in 1994 to fill the void left by the now-shuttered penitentiaries of Alcatraz and Marion. It's designed to contain "a very small subset of the inmate population who show absolutely no concern for human life," <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-toughest-federal-prison.html?_r=1">in the words</a> of Norman Carlson, the former director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. It's the only federal supermax prison in the country.A lawsuit filed against the ADX over its allegedly improper treatment of mentally ill inmates has shed new light on the prison's bleak conditions, The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/magazine/inside-americas-toughest-federal-prison.html?_r=1">New York Times</a> reported recently. That article also points out that ADX houses some of America's worst criminals, and below we've highlighted some of the more notorious inmates: <h3>1. Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Olympics bomber</h3>Before his arrest in 2003, Eric Rudolph was on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list for orchestrating a series of anti-gay and anti-abortion-motivated bombings in Georgia and Alabama. On July 27, 1996, Rudolph <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/04/rudolph.timeline/">bombed the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta</a> during the Summer Olympics, killing one and injuring 111 people.Rudolph later released a <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/13/eric.rudolph/">statement</a> explaining he planned the attack to embarrass the US government for allowing abortion. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"Abortion is murder. And when the regime in Washington legalized, sanctioned and legitimized this practice, they forfeited their legitimacy and moral authority to govern," the statement said.Rudolph spent more than five years as a fugitive in the Appalachian wilderness "clinging to the fringes of society in a neat ridge-top camp only 200 yards from two strip malls and the high school," Patrik Jonsson wrote in the <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0604/p01s02-usju.html">Christian Science Monitor.</a>When plants and insects proved insufficient, Rudolph raided dumpsters for food in nearby towns. It was during one of these dumpster raids when Rudolph was finally arrested by a rookie police officer behind a Save-A-Lot store in Murphy, North Carolina.<h3>2. Terry Nichols, the Oklahoma City bomber </h3>On April 19, 1995, a bomb killed 168 people in Oklahoma City's Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. That bomb was planted in a nearby truck by Terry Nichols and Timothy McVeigh. Nichols met McVeigh while serving in the military, and the two - who shared a hatred of government and of black people - became fast friends. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Nichols became increasingly radical in his anti-government views, and he attempted to renounce his US citizenship twice in 1992. When McVeigh was discharged from the army in late 1991, the two lived together off and on. One night, they were <a href="http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighaccount.html">watching TV </a>at Nichols' farmhouse in Michigan when news broke that the ATF, Army, and FBI had ambushed a religious compound in Waco, Texas. After that, an enraged Nichols and McVeigh <a href="http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveighaccount.html">began plotting their revenge</a> on the federal government.McVeigh was arrested the day of the bombing, tried, and sentenced to death. He was executed in June 2001. Nichols turned himself in shortly after the explosion and is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.<h3>3. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber</h3>Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/islamic-radicalization-umar-farouk-abdulmutallab-70905">was a pious Muslim</a> who studied engineering at University College London before traveling to Yemen to study Arabic in August 2009. There, he <a href="http://content.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1950292_2017835,00.html">organized a Christmas day attack</a> on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 with the help of terrorists associated with Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>As the plane, en route from Amsterdam, approached its final destination of Detroit on Dec. 25, 2009, then-23-year-old Abdulmutallab went to the bathroom and planted a homemade explosive device in his underwear.The <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-17065130">bomb malfunctioned</a>, sparking nothing more than a small fire and leaving Abdulmutallab with first- and second-degree burns on his legs. US Customs and Border Protection arrested Abdulmutallab at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. He <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30973.html">later told them</a> that he had obtained the device in Yemen and had been acting on behalf of AQAP. He's serving a life sentence at ADX without the possibility of parole. <h3>4. Michael Swango, the doctor who poisoned up to 60 patients</h3>Also known as "Dr. Death," Swango <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/life-in-jail-for-poison-doctor/">admitted in 2000 that he fatally poisoned</a> three patients at a hospital in Long Island. He had a history of demented behavior, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/08/29/reviews/990829.29morrowt.html">according to a book about his life by James B. Stewart</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>Beginning in 1983, Swango came under scrutiny for the death of an elderly neurosurgery patient who experienced respiratory failure shortly after a nurse saw Swango injecting something into her IV. Over the next 15 years, there were other fatalities linked to Swango: five patients at Southern Illinois University, five at Ohio State Medical Center, five at a Veterans Administration Hospital in Northport, New York, and more than 20 people in Zimbabwe.Swango also allegedly falsified his own employment records, likely to conceal the two years he served at a prison in the '80s for administering arsenic to five of his co-workers at an ambulance service in his hometown of Quincy, Illinois. He may have poisoned up to 16 other people.As a <a href="http://www.connecttristates.com/news/story.aspx?id=1125476#.VR8DgxDF_7k">local Connecticut news service put it</a>, "Only he knows how many people he killed, and only he knows why." Swango is serving three consecutive life sentences at the ADX. HBO is <a href="http://www.thewrap.com/deal-central/column-post/hbo-films-swango-gets-boost-john-mclaughlin-exclusive-59451/">developing</a> a true-life tale of his killings to be called "Swango."<h3>5. Larry Hoover, the Gangster Disciples kingpin</h3>In the early '70s, Larry Hoover took over what would soon become Chicago's largest gang, the Gangster Disciples. By the mid-'90s, the formerly disorganized group, wrought with infighting, became a multi-state drug operation, functioning almost like a legitimate corporation."They had armies of lawyers and accountants. They had their own clothing line, music promotion company, political action committee. They had a structure that helped them insulate the leaders from the drugs and the guns," <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-police-blame-gangster-disciples-2012-10">Ron Safer</a>, a former assistant US attorney who prosecuted Hoover in the 1990s, has told the Chicago Tribune. <div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>Remarkably, Hoover orchestrated much of this transformation from behind bars. He was convicted and <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-02-07/news/9502070270_1_street-gang-parole-illinois-prisoner-review-board">sentenced to 150 to 200 years</a> in prison in 1973 for the murder of William Young, who was reportedly stealing money from the GDs.While behind bars, Hoover changed the meaning of his group's acronym to "Growth and Development," supposedly a <a href="http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-gang-that-could-go-straight/Content?oid=886552">community-service organization</a>. He began telling his nationwide group of followers to ditch the guns and drugs, educate themselves, and contribute to society. The group even founded 21st Century V.O.T.E., a political action organization as well as other nonprofits dedicated to improving inner-city Chicago.But in 1997, authorities <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1997-05-10/news/9705100170_1_gangster-disciples-larry-hoover-drug-trafficking">caught Hoover on tape</a> discussing the gang's extensive drug operations with his visitors in prison. Despite acknowledging some of Hoover's more worthwhile efforts, a federal judge added more charges to his already hefty sentence. Hoover is serving six consecutive life sentences at the ADX. Since then, many GDs have gone back to their old ways, causing Chicago's crime rate to soar in 2012. Records show that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chicago-police-blame-gangster-disciples-2012-10">100 of the 392</a> homicide victims in the city that year had ties to the Disciples. <h3>6. Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber </h3>Kaczynski got a promising start: He was accepted into Harvard at the tender age of 17 and studied advanced mathematics at the Ivy League university.Between 1978 and 1995, however, he mailed 16 bombs to universities and facilities across the country, killing three people and injuring 23 others. <h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left"><div class="image on-image"></div></div></h3>In 1995, Kazcynski blackmailed The New York Times and Washington Post into publishing his 35,000 word manifesto, "<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.text.htm">Industrial Society and Its Future</a>," which expressed his motivations for mailing the bombs. Kaczynski had threatened to send a bomb to an unspecified location with the "intent to kill" if the paper didn't print his words. The manifesto <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/06/25/was-unabomber-correct-about-horrors-technology-combined-with-government/">criticized</a> the "left" for embracing technology, which led to an over-centralized government, and humans eventually losing the capabilities to think for themselves.On the FBI's list of Top 10 Most Wanted at one point, Kaczynski, now 72, was apprehended largely because his brother, David, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104743973">suspected he was the Unabomber</a>. He's serving a life sentence at the ADX.<h3>7. Zacarias Moussaoui, the 9/11 conspirator</h3>Zacarias Moussaoui, a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-september-11-conspirator-moussaoui-says-saudi-royals-backed-al-qaeda-2015-2">46-year-old French native</a> serving life in prison for his role in the 9/11 attacks, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/jailed-al-qaeda-operative-makes-explosive-claims-about-saudi-royals-funding-pre-911-terror-2015-2">made headlines</a> last month when he claimed members of al-Qaida had received extensive financial support from Saudi Arabia throughout the late 1990s and into 2000.<div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>Known as the "20th hijacker," Moussaoui pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the US as part of the September 11 attacks.In 2006, he <a href="http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/moussaoui/withdrawguilty.pdf">withdrew his guilty plea</a>, saying that he was not involved in the 9/11 conspiracy but was "part of another al-Qaida plot which was to occur after September 11." He's serving a life sentence at ADX without the possibility of parole.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacarias_Moussaoui#cite_note-Withdraw-6"> </a>In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/zacarias-moussaoui-calls-saudi-princes-patrons-of-al-qaeda.html">rare testimony from inside ADX</a>, Moussaoui said he was instructed by al-Qaida leaders in Afghanistan to create a database of all of the donors to the terrorist group. Among the donors, he claims, were prominent members of the Saudi royal family. <h3>8. Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing</h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_left"><div class="image on-image"></div></div>On Feb. 26, 1993, a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/25/nyregion/trade-center-bombers-get-prison-terms-of-240-years.html">1,000 pound car bomb detonated</a> in the garage below the World Trade Center, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ramzi-yousef-coming-1993-wtc-bombing-article-1.1142342">killing six people and injuring 1,042 others</a>. Yousef, a member of al-Qaida, and three others, planned it. Yousef also conspired to explode 12 US jetliners in midair. In court, he <a href="https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/01/27/america-hates-terrorists">famously said</a>, "Yes, I am a terrorist and proud of it ..."In early April, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/03/nyregion/two-queens-women-charged-in-bomb-plot.html?_r=0">two Queens women were arrested and charged</a> on suspicion of building a bomb. One of them, Noelle Velentzas, showed an undercover officer a picture of Yousef that she carried with her. Yousef is serving 240 years, a total of the life expectancies of the people killed in the attack. During his sentencing, the death penalty wasn't an option because it became legal at the federal level for Yousef's crime a year after the bombing happened. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/smartphone-impact-brain-body-sleep-2015-2">This is what happens to your brain and body when you check your phone before bed</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="BvMjVqcjoHdZBG6tTpXy8UkhB5_46U_c" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

You Searched For "hijackers to ger death penalty" and got 12 results

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Belarusian authorities diverted a passenger jet and forced it to land, then arrested a journalist on board

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