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CNN Live At Daybreak

McVeigh Execution: Activist Abe Bonowitz Discusses 168 Minutes of Silent Protest in 30-Plus States

Aired June 11, 2001 - 07:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It is now 6:37 a.m. in Terre Haute, Indiana, and you are looking at live pictures of the federal penitentiary where Timothy McVeigh is now spending the last minutes of his life.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: And 600 miles away, Oklahoma City watches and waits.

CNN's Bill Hemmer is in Terre Haute, outside the penitentiary, and he joins us now to let us know where the process stands -- a very detailed protocol, a very time-sensitive process, that is under way now -- Bill.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Indeed, Colleen, Carol. As you mentioned, that step-by-step rigid procedure was set up about six years ago, in 1995; they're following that to the tee here in Terre Haute.

To give our viewers an indication of what we believe is taking place at this time, we are now within that one hour, the 30-minute window. Behind the prison behind us here, in what has been called the Death House, in Terre Haute, at this time, we believe that government witnesses will start moving into that execution chamber.

Timothy McVeigh will be removed from his holding cell, an area where he was brought early on Sunday morning, and then soon he'll be strip-searched, dressed in khaki pants with briefs and a white shirt. He'll also be given a pair of socks and some slip-on shoes.

If necessary, McVeigh will be secured with restraints, and then escorted again just a few feet into the execution room and restrained to the execution table. Because we are within that 30-minute window, it's possible a lot of this has already taken place.

I mentioned the witnesses. The government witnesses will be in their assigned areas first. After that, the other witnesses will file in, including the community witnesses, who flew in from Oklahoma City last night. There are 10 of them, some of whom are survivors of the blast, some of whom are families of the victims from the bombing, in April of 1995. Also four witnesses selected by McVeigh himself will be escorted in, and then, finally, the 10 media witnesses will be admitted to the final area.

The execution chamber, we showed you inside just a short time ago -- we will have another look at that shortly.

But in the meantime, there are demonstrators, not quite as many as officials thought would come to Terre Haute, but there are several hundred.

CNN's Jeff Flock is watching that side of the story with us now.

Jeff, good morning to you.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Bill.

And we speak quietly because, at the moment, we are in the middle of what they call the circle of silent witness. It's some extraordinary pictures this morning of folks who will be for 168 minutes keeping a silent vigil here on the prison grounds.

This is a group of people that feel remembering the 168 victims is important, but they do not feel that remembering it with the execution of Tim McVeigh is the way to go.

Abe Bonowitz is one of the people that has organized this.

Your main message, Abe, and do you think it's getting through anywhere this morning?

ABE BONOWITZ, ANTI-DEATH PENALTY ACTIVIST: Our message is that we remember the victims, but not with more killing, and there's no question that it's getting through. This is an unprecedented crowd; it's much more than I expected. And it's important that people know that there are events like this happening in more than 30 states today.

People have come together to remember the victims, but not with more killing, and also to say that we can't trust our government to fill potholes or tax us fairly or run a good election. We should be very worried about trusting them with human lives. It's not about McVeigh. It's about us, really.

FLOCK: I want to ask Bill to go back and take a look at these folks, and point out that the skies opened here just about a half an hour ago, and no one moved -- it was pouring rain, virtually, and no one moved. But the point is that, also inside the prison, you have other members of the federal death row that are taking part in this circle of silent witness, yes?

BONOWITZ: Yes.

FLOCK: How many?

BONOWITZ: There are 15 prisoners that are taking part in the solidarity action with this action here. They all know Tim McVeigh. They're all losing somebody that they have come to know as a friend, as somebody in the same boat, if you will. So, they've been planning to do this, and right now, we're all sitting around waiting for somebody to be killed unnecessarily, and that's the focus.

FLOCK: Abe Bonowitz, thanks, appreciate the time very much.

That is the latest from here, Bill, and this will continue until the top of the 7:00 hour: 168 minutes of silent vigil -- Bill.

HEMMER: Jeff, thank you.

Certainly, we'll cover ever aspect of this story. And one's mind has to drift also to the surviving family of Timothy McVeigh. He has an older and younger sister. His parents divorced when he was 16, but his mother now lives in Florida. His father lives outside of Buffalo, in upstate New York; he has gone into seclusion for the day today.

More coming up from Terre Haute, live here in western Indiana, shortly, but for now, back to you, in Atlanta.

LIN: Thank you very much, Bill.

In fact, this story is stirring reaction around the world.

We go to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. She is standing by in London.

Christiane, what is European opinion today, and how is it being expressed, in terms of McVeigh's execution?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, almost universally, European countries and most of the Democratic world are against the death penalty and have done a lot of protesting in the past.

Of course, this case has been very prominently featured in the newspapers and on television and in the radio over the last few days and weeks, and particularly, people in Europe believe that the system is unreliable, unfair, and flawed. And as you remember, the FBI botching those last documents has focused attention on what Europeans here say is a flawed system, and one that should be abolished.

There are scattered protests in capitals such as Italy and Rome and others planned for today. But this movement, this anti-death penalty movement in Europe, has been growing, particularly with the election of George W. Bush as president. There were demonstrations against the death penalty on his Inauguration Day, back in January, demonstrations in Paris. And the whole situation is becoming a focal point here in Europe.

The outgoing U.S. ambassador to France, Felix Rohatyn, wrote an op-ed and has given speeches, saying that America's capital punishment is harming America's moral standing in the rest of the world. The European Union plans to protest this execution and protest all executions by using its embassies in Washington.

It's worth, of course, remembering that the European Union and all the countries of Europe have abolished the death penalty, and abolishing the death penalty is a condition of countries joining the European Union, even for countries of former Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Block. Also, Amnesty International is leading the international protest, and, indeed, the U.S. protest and movement against the death penalty. Recently, it released some figures showing that around the world, in the year 2000, there were something like 1,457 executions. Of those, 88 percent took place in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the United States of America.

So a very big protest movement is growing here against the death penalty. A former French justice minister even went so far as to call President Bush the world champion of executioners. This is something that is really being galvanized, and particularly, Governor Bush, when he was in Texas, his record focuses the attention here in Europe -- Carol.

LIN: Christiane, do you expect that this is going to be coming up on President Bush's European tour? He leaves tonight.

AMANPOUR: Well, indeed, and protests are already planned in Spain. That's his first stop in Europe -- not just against the death penalty, but against other policies as well. So this is going to be something that probably will be brought up during his visit there, though it may pale in comparison to some of the other issues that people here are concerned about, in terms of U.S. foreign policy.

But let's just say that Timothy McVeigh is not a sympathetic figure here, but nonetheless, they are against the death penalty -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Christiane Amanpour, reporting live, from London, this morning -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Carol, we want to return you now to Oklahoma City. We have live pictures for you of the national memorial there to the victims in this bombing. It's become a bit of a destination in and of itself, that memorial. More than 700,000 visited it during its first year of being open.

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