Now, all these years later, he is finally on trial. On Monday, he showed that he was not in the least repentant. As far as he is concerned, he has no reason to be. He sees himself as a soldier in a war that only one side admits is being waged. 

Saipov’s attorney David Patton said, “And as we sit here today, he still believes that, he still believes the ISIS messaging and he still believes it was God’s will that he do what he did.” This was in line with what Saipov said at a pre-trial hearing back in 2018: “The judgments that are made here are not important for me. They are not Allah’s judgments.

When Sayfullo Saipov applied for his diversity visa, his name was likely checked (if the system was working properly, which it may not have been) against some databases of criminals and terrorists, and when he was found not to be listed, he was admitted into the country. No one would have dared question him about what he thought about Islam’s teachings of warfare against unbelievers; to have done so would have been “Islamophobic.”

Source - PJ Media/Twitter - Image - Reuters