Quite a fascinating story, AlJazeera Arabic has an interesting article in Arabic about her being denied the payments that Holocaust survivors received because she converted to Islam: Survivor From the Holocaust, Converted to Islam and Married a Palestinian.
EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) – Shaima Alawadi and her family fled Iraq nearly two decades ago as Saddam Hussein crushed a Shiite uprising, settling in the U.S. so they would no longer face persecution, a family friend said.
Alawadi, 32, grew up in the country’s largest Iraqi enclaves, wore the Muslim headscarf and volunteered at the mosque.
Now, after her body was found severely beaten in her suburban San Diego home, police, the FBI and members of the Iraqi community are wondering whether her death was a hate crime or something else.
Among the evidence that police have collected is a threatening note that was near Alawadi’s body. Her daughter told a television station that it said: “Go back to your country, you terrorist.”
El Cajon Police Chief James Redman declined to discuss the contents of the note Monday, though he said that it has led police to regard the killing as a possible hate crime. He said he was confident the case would be solved.
“I want to stress there is other evidence in this case that we are looking at and the possibility this is a hate crime is just one aspect,” Redman said.
“We don’t have tunnel vision on this case,” he said. “We’re looking at the big picture.”
Redman said he was confident it was an isolated incident but would not say why.
The death rippled across the world, with Alawadi’s name being mentioned on Twitter and the case being discussed in Iraqi communities in the San Diego and Detroit suburbs. Lawmakers in Baghdad called for a full investigation.
Her slaying was being compared to that of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teen shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer, said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“Trayvon was black wearing a hoodie. Shaima was wearing a hijab,” Walid said, referring to the Muslim headscarf. “It’s the same racist principle at play that killed both of these individuals.”
Others were more guarded, saying they wanted to wait for the investigation to unfold.
“It is absolutely devastating for the family and the community, so we need move on very, very cautiously. Emotions are high, but we need to make sure we let the professionals do what they need to do,” said Hanif Mohebi, executive director of CAIR’s San Diego chapter.
The chief said Alawadi died of severe head trauma. She was taken off life support Saturday, three days after her teenage daughter found her unconscious in the dining room of the family’s El Cajon home, east of San Diego.
The victim’s daughter, Fatima Al Himidi, told KUSI-TV in San Diego that her mother had been beaten on the head repeatedly with a tire iron, and the threatening note was next to her. Police would not confirm the type of weapon used in the attack.
Police said the family found another threatening note within the last month but did not report it to authorities. Mohebi said family members told him they dismissed the initial note as a prank.
The victim and her family fled Iraq in the early 1990s after a failed Shiite uprising, living in Saudi Arabian refugee camps before coming to the U.S., said Imam Husham Al-Husainy of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, Mich.
Saddam’s troops hanged Alawadi’s uncle.
“She lost her uncle by Saddam,” he said, “and when they came here to seek freedom, she got killed.”
The family arrived in the Detroit area in 1993 and later moved to San Diego. Shaima Alawadi was a religious Shiite Muslim who wore a hijab and volunteered at a mosque, Al-Husainy said.
Alawadi’s father, Sayed Nabeel Alawadi, is a cleric in Iraq, said Al-Husainy, who described himself as a close family friend.
Hayder Al-Zayadi, a family friend, told the Detroit Free Press that Alawadi’s brothers worked for the U.S. Army, serving as cultural advisers to train soldiers who were going to be deployed to the Middle East.
Another family friend told U-T San Diego that Alawadi’s husband had a similar job. Redman said Alawadi’s husband was currently on disability and didn’t know his previous employment.
Flowers were set on the doorstep of the home Monday. One of the glass panels on a sliding back patio door was boarded up with wood. The backyard overlooks a middle school.
Alvin Luckenbach, who lives next door, exchanged pleasantries with Alawadi and her husband. He said she recently apologized for her kids making noise playing basketball on Alawadi’s back patio.
“They were always nice,” Luckenbach said.
The Iraqi foreign minister said Monday that Alawadi’s body will be flown to Iraq.
The FBI, which is assisting El Cajon police in the investigation, defines a hate crime as an offense motivated by a bias against race, religion, ethnicity, disability or sexual orientation. There were 1,409 hate crimes nationwide based on religion during 2010, including 186 targeting Muslims. There were 1,040 based on ethnicity or national origin, including 359 targeting groups other than Hispanics.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
“Police Chief James Redman declined to discuss the contents of the note Monday, though he said that it has led police to regard the killing as a possible hate crime.”
With pro-sleuthing like that, it’s a wonder they haven’t caught the killer yet. I still can’t believe they figured out it was a “possible murder” in the first place…
CLEVELAND – A Middleburg Heights man pleaded guilty to putting a plastic camel with a noose around its neck on the apartment door of a Muslim person.
Christopher M. Sanford, 25, entered a guilty plea to interfering with housing rights of another based on the victim’s race, religion or national origin.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that on the morning of Dec. 1, 2009, Sanford took a plastic camel and a noose, and hung them on the door of the victim, identified only as A.F.A. The victim is a native of Jordan, who is Arab and Muslim, and lived in the Stonebridge Apartments in downtown Cleveland.
“The freedom of all Americans to live where they wish, without fear or threats based on their religion or race, is central to our way of life as Americans and Ohioans. This conduct violates those core values, values that we will continue to uphold through appropriate federal prosecutions,” said. U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach.
Sanford said he used the plastic camel because of the victim’s race and religion, Dettelbach said.
Sanford will be sentenced on June 18. He faces up to one year in prison and a $25,000 fine.
Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/cleveland_metro/man-pleads-guilty-to-hanging-camel-with-noose-on-muslims-apartment-door-in-cleveland#ixzz1qH0nTgxF
Came across this today. Needless to say, it’s on point.
As a Muslim man:
1. I can set foot in any masjid I like. No one will stop me at the door and tell me that I am not allowed in the masjid.
2. When I attend Jumah prayer I know that I will have full access to…
I think this has to be one of the most poorly thought-out critiques I’ve ever read about Muslim communities. I could be saying that because of course, I’m a guy, and so according to the post-modern consensus, inherently/automatically “privileged.” Or it could be because the author is actually making a gross over-generalization of their own personal experiences to all Muslim communities and cultures with the assumption these criticisms will have equal applicability.
Regarding the first of those options, it’s a bit like denying you’re an alcoholic. You might not be, but once accused, if you say otherwise, you’re automatically considered to be “in denial.” And in that sense it also makes it a bit like being accused of witchcraft during the middle ages.
Regarding the latter, one may do well to consider that the Muslim community is hardly a monolithic entity, what with it spanning nearly all the world and constituting a significant portion of its population. If the author wanted to make this point about her own community only, then it might be a bit more convincing. But stating this as though it were some sort of remotely/quasi-valid sociological phenomenon applying to Muslims in general is—get ready—really Islamophobic.
(via semasahin)
Sheikh al-Habib has strongly condemned the “terrorist and cowardly” arson attack perpetrated by a Nasibi criminal on ‘Imam Ridha (peace be upon him) Mosque’ in the Belgian capital, Brussels, which left the Imam, Abdullah Dadou (May Allah bless his soul), dead due to smoke inhalation.
The mosque belongs to the Moroccan Shia community in Belgium, which is believed to have been receiving continuous harassments from groups hostile to Shia Muslims, followers of the holy household of the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him and his pure family).
Sheikh al-Habib said: “certainly, this is a fear based message attempting to scare and intimidate Shia Muslims into impeding their continuous resolution in rooting-out false beliefs and guiding the nation “back” to Muhammad and his pure family (peace be upon them)”.
Sheikh al-Habib has demanded the Belgian authorities the maximum penalty for the “terrorist” arsonist and those who hired him, encouraged or mentally supported him to commit such a heinous crime. This indeed, requires the Belgian authorities to take a serious and assertive stance against all terrorist cells and work to weed them out and save our communities from such “evil”.
In addition, His Eminence has called on all Shia Muslims living in Belgium and elsewhere in Europe to unify their efforts to thwart such attacks. This certainly requires a high degree of responsibility and self-esteem. He asked Allah the Most Exalted to protect all followers of Muhammad and his pure family (peace be upon them) under the shadow of our Master, the Imam of our time (May Allah hasten his reappearance).
LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB) – The Iraqi-owned business that police say was the target of a hate crime will not reopen. The business manager for Jacob’s Smoke Shop says he filed paperwork with the secretary of state to officially close the business. Vandals broke in and ripped apart the Shepherdsville store last month, spray painting “Hate Arab” and “Go Home” on the floors and walls. Community members have now posted words of encouragement on the front of the business. Owner Ali Alboodi told them he feared for his life and was returning to Iraq.
Cat-stroking xenophobe Andrea Peyser has a Google Alert that plays the entire score to Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will every time it finds a story under “New York Times AND NYPD AND I Hate Terrorist Muslims.” Ding ding ding! Today, like every day, is Andrea Peyser’s lucky day.
A Houston Islamic academy was denied membership to the Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools after being grilled about the Koran and the mosque located at Ground Zero.
We call for the resignation of Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne from the NYPD, for their involvement in producing and showing an anti-Muslim propaganda film, “The Third Jihad.” We demand that the City Council institute an oversight mechanism for the police department. We further call on the NYPD to retrain the officers who watched “The Third Jihad” during police training.
Initially, the NYPD denied that it screened “The Third Jihad” but later said it was shown a few times to a handful of officers. However, police documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Law request now reveal that the film was shown on a continuous loop for 3 months to nearly 1500 officers. Only after the film’s producer identified for the New York Times the date on which Kelly was interviewed, did Kelly and Browne admit to participation in the film.
Taken in context of the Associated Press’s reporting about the NYPD’s extensive surveillance programs—which literally map Muslim communities, and all aspects of Muslim life in New York City—it is now clear that the NYPD’s dealings with New York’s diverse Muslim communities are based on bigotry and blanket suspicion.
Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Kelly and Deputy Commissioner Browne lied to you, the media and the people of New York and now it’s time to hold them accountable. Uphold the integrity of the NYPD. Meet our demands!
I have no expectation the city will meet these demands. But I signed anyway and I think everyone else should too. What the city has done is just too unforgivable.
The entertainment industry has also joined in on the opprobrium. Actors Mia Farrow and Kal Penn have taken to the social media site Twitter to voice their displeasure. Penn, a former outreach officer for Asian-American and Pacific Islander communities for the Obama administration, on Monday asked people to sign a petition supporting the show. “Our next movie: “Harold & Kumar Do Not Go To @Lowes.” Please take a sec to sign & support an all-American show,” Penn said on Twitter, alluding to his “Harold and Kumar” stoner comedy movies.
At an unrelated news conference, Kelly told reporters that he “categorically denied” the idea that the NYPD was spying. … As for Commissioner Kelly, perhaps he never read the police document entitled “NYPD Intelligence Division Strategic Posture 2006.” The document is marked “secret” and on its front page reads: “DISTRIBUTION: NYPD POLICE COMMISSIONER.” Well, NYPD Confidential and the Associated Press have read it. In a half-dozen articles, the AP detailed how the department infiltrated mosques, Muslim schools and Islamic student groups at the city universities; how plainclothes officers catalogued Middle Eastern restaurants and their clientele; and how NYPD analysts built databases on Arab cab drivers and monitored Muslims who changed their names.
Once again, a minuscule percentage of terrorist attacks in Europe were committed by Muslims. In 2009 and 2010, there were a grand total of 543 terrorist attacks, of which only 4 were committed by Muslims. This means that only 0.7% of terrorist attacks–again, less than 1%–were committed by Muslims. Meanwhile, in that same time frame, separatist groups in Europe committed 397 terrorist attacks, or 73% of terrorist attacks overall. In other words, separatist groups committed 99.2 times (almost 100 times) more terrorist attacks than Muslims.
The documents show police were worried about “militant paintball trips” organized by Muslim students at Brooklyn College. The Justice Department has in the past accused would-be terrorists of using paintball games as a sort of paramilitary training. But current and former officials said there was no standard for what kind of paintball trips the NYPD considered militant.
Yes, you read that right. And yes, this is really from the Wall Street Journal and not the Onion.
