Sunday, March 25, 2012
Iraqi-American woman beaten to death in California in possible 'hatecrime'.
Iraqi-American woman beaten to death in California in possible 'hatecrime'.(TGM).A woman from Iraq who was found beaten next to a threatening note saying “go back to your country” has died, and police are investigating the possibility of a hate crime.
Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Shaima Alawadi was taken off life support Saturday afternoon.
“The family is in shock at the moment. They're still trying to deal with what happened,” said Mr. Mohebi, who met with family members.
Ms. Alawadi, a 32-year-old mother of five, had been hospitalized since her 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious in the dining room of the family's suburban San Diego house on Wednesday, Police Lieutenant Steve Shakowski said.
“A hate crime is one of the possibilities, and we will be looking at that,” Lt. Mark Coit said. “We don't want to focus on only one issue and miss something else.”
The daughter, Fatima Al Himidi, told KUSI-TV her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron, and that the note said “go back to your country, you terrorist.”
Addressing the camera, the tearful daughter asked: “You took my mother away from me. You took my best friend away from me. Why? Why did you do it?”
Police said the family had found a similar note earlier this month but did not report it to authorities.
A family friend, Sura Alzaidy, told UT San Diego that the attack apparently occurred after the father took the younger children to school. Ms. Alzaidy told the newspaper the family is from Iraq, and that Ms. Alawadi was a “respectful modest muhajiba,” meaning she wears the traditional hijab, a head scarf.
The family had lived in the house for only a few weeks, after moving from Michigan, Ms. Alzaidy said. Ms. Alzaidy told the newspaper her father and Ms. Alawadi's husband had previously worked together in San Diego as private contractors for the U.S. Army, serving as cultural advisers to train soldiers who were going to be deployed to the Middle East.
Mr. Mohebi said the family had been in the United States since the mid-1990s. He said it was unfortunate that the family didn't report the initial threatening note.El Cajon, northeast of downtown San Diego, is home to some 40,000 Iraqi immigrants, the second largest such community in the U.S. after Detroit.Hmmmmm.......No word about possible break in......Let's hope it's not a 'covered up honorkilling'.Read the full story here.
Labels:
America,
anti islam,
hate crime,
Honor killing
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More likely an "honour" crime with a deliberately misleading note!!
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