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Reuters General/ - Article, Sáb, 31 de Março de 2012
CLIPPING INTERNACIONAL (Civil Rights)
Slain Iraqi-American woman buried in
Iraq
(Reuters) - An Iraqi-American woman who was beaten
to death in her U.S. home in a possible case of hate
crime was buried in her native Iraq on Saturday.
Relatives wept as the casket of Shaima Alawadi, a
32-year-old mother of five, was taken to the Valley of
Peace cemetery in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf, 160 km
(100 miles) south of Iraq's capital Baghdad.
Alawadi was found unconscious in the dining room of
her rented home in California last Wednesday by her
17-year-old daughter. She was taken to a trauma
centre with a severe head injury and died last Saturday
after being taken off life support.
The killing is being investigated as a possible hate
crime because of a threatening note that was found
near her, police say.
"The martyr (Alawadi) used to love all, she made no
distinction between religions," Alawadi's father, Nabil,
told Reuters.
"Her husband told me that someone threw a note
saying 'go back to your own country, you're a
terrorist'... Who is the real terrorist, Shaima, or them,"
he said.
Alawadi's casket, draped in an Iraqi flag, was flown
into Iraq on Saturday. A police convoy transported the
coffin to the shrine of Imam Ali, a central figure of
Shi'ite Islam, where prayers were held for Alawadi
before she was buried.
Mourners carrying a banner calling for legal action.
"The motives behind the crime are racial ... We call on
concerned Iraqi institutions such as the Human Rights
Ministry, parliamentary committees and the Foreign
Ministry to follow up on the crime and find the
criminals," Alawadi's nephew, Haider Kadhim, said.
Alawadi lived in the San Diego suburb of El Cajon,
which, along with nearby areas, is home to some
50,000-60,000 immigrants and refugees of Middle
Eastern descent.
If hate is confirmed as a motive in the killing, it would
be the worst bias crime committed against Arabs or
Muslims in years in the area, according to Sadaf Hane,
civil rights director of the San Diego chapter of the
Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Police say the region has not experienced violent hate
crimes in the past.
The FBI is assisting the El Cajon Police Department in
the investigation, and has provided agents from a
squad that is specifically trained to conduct hate crime
investigations, FBI spokesman Darrell Foxworth said.
(Reporting by Baghdad newsroom; Writing by Serena
Chaudhry; Editing by Alison Williams)
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