So I wasn't clear on that before, but the manner of their captivity is the issue in my mind. Plus, their motivations in attacking the tower were misguided but not stupid - Male AS go insane and destroy people. They realistically aren't going to be able to take them in for trial due to their numbers so they must be destroyed.

The AS's mistake was failing to seek a diplomatic solution, and using bonding or something similar to test that the source was clean.