In documents released Wednesday, federal prosecutors described parts of the note that accused Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev left scrawled in a boat in Watertown where he was hiding during a manhunt that ended with his arrest.
The filing in US District Court in Boston came in response to a motion from Tsarnaev’s defense lawyers to suppress statements he made to FBI agents while he was being treated in a Boston hospital after his arrest.
Below is an excerpt from Tsarnaev’s note that prosecutors included in a court filing to show his alleged motive for the bombings:
The US Government is killing our innocent civilians but most of you already know that. As a [UI] I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished. We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all. Well at least that’s how muhhammad (pbuh) wanted it to be [for]ever. The ummah is beginning to rise. [UI] has awoken the mujahideen. Know you are fighting men who look into the barrel of your gun and see heaven, now how can you compete with that. We are promised victory and we will surely get it. Now I don’t like killing innocent people it is forbidden in Islam but due to said [UI] it is allowed. All credit goes [UI].
Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop.”
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Prosecutors included another excerpt from the note in a separate filing:
“I’m jealous of my brother who ha[s] [re]ceived the reward of jannutul Firdaus (inshallah) before me. I do not mourn because his soul is very much alive. God has a plan for each person. Mine was to hide in this boat and shed some light on our actions. I ask Allah to make me a shahied (iA) to allow me to return to him and be among all the righteous people in the highest levels of heaven. He who Allah guides no one can misguide. A[llah Ak]bar!”
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