SOME OF YOU WERE ASKING ABOUT THE MUSLIM TV MOGUL WHO BOUGHT TV STATIONS TO PORTRAY THE PEACEFUL LOVING SIDE OF MUSLIMS: SO HERE IT IS. MEDIA COVERAGE WAS ALMOST NIL. I SAW IT IN THE BACK PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, ALMOST AS IF IT NEVER EXISTED. IMAGINE THE PRESS COVERAGE IF THAT HAD BEEN A CHRISTIAN ICON WHO DID THE SAME THING. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FRONT PAGE STUFF AS LONG AS IT HAD A GOOD MEDIA SHELF LIFE. Muzzammil Hassan came to the United States from Pakistan at age 17,[8] eventually graduating magna cum laude with an MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester in 1996.[9] He went on to become a successful banker in Buffalo, New York.[8] In 2004, his wife Aasiya prompted him to develop an American Muslim media where her kids could grow up feeling really strong about their identity as an American Muslim.[10] Hassan expressed belief that some moderate Muslims could not identify with the extreme stereotypes often depicted in Hollywood productions and said that such Muslims think they are not accurately portrayed and that Bridges TV gives American Muslims a voice and will depict them in everyday, real life situations.[3] Every day on television we are barraged by stories of a Muslim extremist, militant, terrorist, or insurgent, Hassan said in the 2004 release. But the stories that are missing are the countless stories of Muslim tolerance, progress, diversity, service and excellence that Bridges TV hopes to tell.[11] The Hassans received an award for this effort from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in 2007.[12] Arrest and conviction of murder[edit] In February 2009, Hassan was arrested and charged with beheading his estranged wife Aasiya Zubair.[5] According to Orchard Park police, Hassan came to the police station at 6:20 pm on February 12, 2009, the day of the killing, and reported his wife dead. Her body was found at the TV station.[5][13] Police had previously visited the Hassans home in response to domestic incidents. They were most recently called to the residence February 6, 2009, the day Hassan was served with divorce papers and an order of protection,[14] where it is reported he was banging on doors and even broke a window.[14] Hassan said in an interview after his arrest that he felt an incredible amount of relief after he killed his wife. I felt like I had escaped from an Al Qaeda terrorist camp and the safest place was the Orchard Park Police Station. I felt safe and secure with them. Hassans sister-in-law, Asma, in South Africa said that Asiya was abused, and feared for her life.[15] The divorce petition cited violence and inhuman treatment as the reason. Police reports indicated that Zubair stated her husbands abusive and controlling behavior had begun at least six years earlier.[16] Muzzammil Hassan was arraigned before Village Justice Deborah Chimes and sent to the Erie County Holding Center. Sources claimed to be close to the case said hunting knives were used to commit the crime.[17] Prosecutor Colleen Curtin Gable said Hassan, who is stocky and over 6 feet tall, bought two hunting knives less than an hour before the attack, then parked his SUV out of view at the station, and hid in wait inside the station to await his wife. When Hassans wife walked through the door, he stabbed her more than 40 times in the face, back and chest and decapitated her, some of which was caught on surveillance video. Their 4- and 6-year-old children, plus a teenage son from one of his two previous marriages, were left buckled into car seats outside in a van during the murder. Hassan, who dismissed four defense attorneys and acted as his own lawyer during the trial, used his two-hour closing remarks telling the jury how he was a slave to his wifes rages. However, Hassan never produced any witnesses or evidence to that substantiated his abuse claims, while prosecutors cited numerous police reports filed by his wife and her medical records which testified to her being the battered spouse.[18]
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 03:41:45 +0000
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