November 9, 2012

Shaima Hate Hoax Update: Iraqi husband arrested

Late last March at the peak of the Trayvon Martin madness, the New York Times splashed on its front page a crime blotter item from 3,000 miles away:
Iraqi Immigrants in California Town Fear a Hate Crime in a Woman’s Killing  
By IAN LOVETT and WILL CARLESS  
EL CAJON, Calif. — Shaima Alawadi’s family says they found the first note taped to the front door of their house on a quiet suburban street here. It said: “This is my country. Go back to yours, terrorist,” according to her 15-year-old son, Mohammed.  
Ms. Alawadi’s husband, Kassim Alhimidi, says he wanted to call the police. But his wife said no, insisting the note was only a child’s prank. Like many others in the neighborhood, the couple were immigrants from Iraq. In 17 years in the United States, they had been called terrorists before, he said.  
But last Wednesday, Ms. Alawadi was found in the family’s dining room by her 17-year-daughter, lying unconscious in a puddle of blood with a severe head wound. Nearby lay another threatening note, similar to the one the family found a week earlier. Ms. Alawadi, 32, died three days later.

Quickly, there were calls for a joint Million Hoodies and Hijabs March.

But, the story always smelled bogus to me. (My first post on the murder and another).
For example, an awful lot of the hate crimes that make the news turn out to be hoaxes. That doesn't mean there are no such things as hate crimes, just that hate crimes like, say, Matthew Yglesias getting stomped for Walking While White is too boring and depressing to be news. The stuff that becomes big news is, typically, a noose is found in the Diversity Nook at some hyper-liberal college. 
One of these days, I'm going to have to write up something on What We Can Learn from Claude Shannon about What Makes the Newspaper.

In contrast to the NYT, the local San Diego paper and the Los Angeles Times took a more skeptical approach. 

Today, the L.A. Times reported:
Iraqi immigrant's death was domestic violence, authorities say 
Kassim Al-Himidi, 48, is suspected of killing his wife, Shaima Alawadi, 32, in March in El Cajon. A note found at the crime scene had suggested the slaying might have been a hate crime. 
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times 
November 9, 2012, 7:36 p.m. 
SAN DIEGO — The husband of an Iraqi immigrant fatally beaten in the family home in El Cajon has been arrested and charged in her death, police said Friday. 
The killing in March was a case of domestic violence, not a hate crime, as a note found near the body had suggested, El Cajon Police Chief Jim Redman said at a news conference. 
Kassim Al-Himidi, 48, was arrested Thursday night on suspicion of murder after being asked to come to the police station. 
Al-Himidi's wife, Shaima Alawadi, 32, the mother of five children, was found bludgeoned and unconscious March 21 and died three days later. 
A note found by the couple's 17-year-old daughter expressed animosity toward Iraqi immigrants, including the phrase "go back to your country" and a reference to the family as "terrorists." 
The possibility of a hate crime sent shock waves through the immigrant community in eastern San Diego County. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 immigrants from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries have settled in El Cajon, La Mesa and adjacent areas east of San Diego. 
Crime statistics showed no history of hate crimes or overt hostility toward Iraqi immigrants in El Cajon, even during the 1991 Persian Gulf War or the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. 
During an intense seven-month investigation, police refrained from calling the beating a hate crime, citing other unspecified evidence. 
Court records show Alawadi planned to divorce her husband and move to Texas to be with relatives. 
"I hope this arrest further eases any concerns in our community," Redman said. "Our investigators showed there was no one running around committing hate crimes." 

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

What will all these Democrats do without the Evil White Male?

rebranding Azalea Cooley said...

Hate crimes (traditionally understood) are a seller's market these days...

Anonymous said...

Most likely the family was suffering under the burden of Hate from the surrounding community and somebody snapped. It could have been the wife or the husband. Who did what to who isn't important, only the Hate. Focusing on the Hate helps us to dismiss unimportant considerations such as preexisting cultural tendencies such as domestic abuse or the War on Terror providing another entry into the US for undesirables, like the guy in AZ, former contractor, who did an honor killing with his van. No death penalty either. The trick is, don't oppose the US ideologically. You can be a xenophobic, violent, chauvinistic pig, but as long as you are one of the "good guys" ain't no drone coming your way.

Anonymous said...

He was 31 and had a child with his 15 year old wife? Maybe I should become a Muslim.

eah said...

Dear Mr 'Not a White Nationalist' Sailer,

I must again remark on the measured tenor of your post. Not a hint of outrage or indignation. Well done.

However, for me two things about this story deserve special emphasis:

Firstly, how ready and willing, even eager, the media is to slander Whites (of course, there was never any question of who the 'haters' were) by sensationalizing this kind of story.

Secondly, how the atmosphere that supports the believability of these stories is so thick and pervasive that even recent immigrants can pick up on it, and think up ways to exploit it, even under the most heinous -- and slanderous -- circumstances.

An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 immigrants from Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries have settled in El Cajon, La Mesa and adjacent areas east of San Diego.

I had no idea the numbers were so large. Absolute madness. What possible benefit (not to mention the pure undesirability) for America could there be in importing so many backward Middle Easterners? Especially to what is -- or was -- perhaps the most beautiful and livable state in America.

DJF said...

"""'Our investigators showed there was no one running around committing hate crimes.""""

As if beating your wife to death is not a hate crime.

Stilton Hanes said...

"I hope this arrest further eases any concerns in our community," Redman said. "Our investigators showed there was no one running around committing hate crimes."


-No one running around committing hate crimes against minorities, anyway. Giving false testimony to the police, planting false evidence, etc. is in itself a crime, so when it is regarding depicting individual(s) of another race or religion as a criminal, it should also be regarded as a hate crime. When a false hate crime is given to muslims or blacks, it should be also treated as trying to incite a riot. After all, when a hate crime hoax goes out, the black or muslim community goes balistic, injuring others and doing property damage in retaliation.

CrownofCastile said...

Let's see how long it takes for all the anti-racist support pages to come down or issue retractions.

rightsaidfred said...

It's the seriousness of the charge, ya'know, not the actual facts.

Sword said...

So, if the husband is 48 now and the daughter is 17, and the wife was 32, then he was 31 and she was 15 at the time of the birth of the daughter. Eew.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone but me noticed that he victim was a child bride who bore her first child at 15 or so, to a much older husband?

Dutch reader said...

If the ages are correct, Shaima was impregnated at age 14 or 15 by a guy twice her age. (Age difference between husband and wife is 16, between mother and daughter, 15).

Anonymous said...

Did daughter know? Because her acting on TV was not very convincing.

Anonymous said...

These racist white police will go to any lengths to cover up hate crimes against gays, blacks, Muslims, etc.

What we need is more gay, black, Muslim whales as police chiefs.

Anonymous said...

"I hope this eases concerns in the community. No one is running around committing hate crimes."

Well thank heavens for that! She was only murdered by her immigrant, muslim husband. It wasn't a hate crime.

Anonymous said...

He killed his child bride wife, who he probably viciously abused for years. But hey, it wasn't a hate crime. We can all breathe easy now.

Anonymous said...

So if the NYT et al. weren't known to be so gullible about these things, would he not have killed her?

Fair question, under their rules. Did they kill this woman? Should we indict them for murder? Can the NYT be put on death row? How would that work?

Just asking questions.

Anonymous said...

There's a clear historical parallel to these hate crime hoaxes. It's the blood libel according to which Jews kidnap and kill Christian children in order to harvest their blood for ritual uses. In the past, European society was so anti-Jewish that allegations of this nature, often made up to cover up own crimes, were readily believed by the wider population, leading to persecution of Jews.

These days, the fanciful idea that whites are seething with violent hatred of minorities and ready to lash out at every moment, has been so thoroughly internalized by journalists in particular that no reality checks are made before these hoaxes blow up into massive news stories.

Huuz Bin-Farteen said...

Were they cousins? NO! That's why you marry blood, they treat you better.

Anonymous said...

How come honour killings are never considered sexist hate crimes?

Assistant Village Idiot said...

Because of confidentiality, I cannot ever give details, so if people choose to think I am making things up, I have no defense. But I know of two national-press, candlelight vigil, this-incident-exposes-the-prejudice-we-still-have-in-our-midst incidents that were just assaults by violent paranoids looking for drug money, with no relation to the race or ethnicity of the victim whatsoever.

I still believe hate crimes exist. Mankind is fallen, people do terrible things, and suspicion of outsiders is the default human position. But I am skeptical of every individual incident that comes before me. Too many evaporate in the sunlight.

Anonymous said...

"The community can have its concerns eased. No one is running around committing hate crimes".. (rough paraprhase)

Because its not like being murdered by members of your own community is anything to be concerned about.

Because that obviously can't be a 'hate' crime and isn't that all that really matters....

Anonymous said...

Reply to Huuz Bin-Farteen:

Cousin marriage is probably a good a reason as any other to explain the backwardness of the Arab world.

Anonymous said...

Mankind is fallen

No, mankind is an animal: a bald ape with an unusually large brain, functional larynx, and finely developed hands. None of this fallen angel stuff, or noble proletarian machine corrupted by capitalist greed.

Maya said...

"He was 31 and had a child with his 15 year old wife? Maybe I should become a Muslim"

You don't have to! In North Africa, they have this new thing going called temporary marriage. You can roll up, pay a relatively small sum to the family, marry a girl as young as 12 (I'm sure they can work with you if you'd rather something more youthful), live with her for however long your vacation is and then go home. The girl, who usually isn't aware that her marriage was of the temp variety, is considered an abandoned wife after you leave, and they kinda shun her for being dishonored for the rest of her life. I'm sure the family would be glad to have you come back for her in a few years and relieve them off that extra mouth in need of feeding, when she reaches the age of consent in your country of residence. It's a win-win for you and your bride's family!

Oh, and if you just aren't into women past their first stage of youth, you could always kill her when she starts pushing 32 and go back for a fresher model. I bet most of us could set up a much better hate crime scene then that dumbass and get away with it. Good luck, hombre!

Anonymous said...

http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1608-arthur-penn-on-akira-kurosawa

http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/1323-remembering-kurosawa

Anonymous said...

Years and years ago on a British TV early-evening cop-soap there was a story line about a British Asian woman found attacked (I forget if she was dead or not) and at first it was assumed to be a racist attack, of which several were occurring in real life at the time, but it turned out her husband done it.
If there's a wave of racist attacks, it's a good opportunity for a member of the victim group to murder that close relative he's always wanted to and maybe get away with it.

Anonymous said...

How come honour killings are never considered sexist hate crimes?



Easy. they are not carried out by sexist white male hate criminals.