Oh Boy, here we go again...

Iraqi woman severely beaten in Calif. home dies

   EL CAJON, Calif. (AP) — A 32-year-old woman from Iraq who was found severely beaten next to a threatening note saying “go back to your country” died on Saturday.

   Hanif Mohebi, the director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met with Shaima Alawadi’s family members in the morning and was told that she was taken off life support around 3 p.m.

   “The family is in shock at the moment. They’re still trying to deal with what happened,” Mohebi said.

   Alawadi, a mother of five, had been hospitalized since her 17-year-old daughter found her unconscious Wednesday in the family’s house in El Cajon, police Lt. Steve Shakowski said.

   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.

   Al Himidi told KGTV-TV her mother dismissed the first note, found outside the home, as a child’s prank.

   A family friend, Sura Alzaidy, told UT San Diego that the attack apparently occurred after the father took the younger children to school. Alzaidy told the newspaper the family is from Iraq, and that Alawadi is a “respectful modest muhajiba,” meaning she wears the traditional hijab, a head scarf.

   Investigators said they believe the assault is an isolated incident.

   “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.”


There is nothing worse than a hate crime.  It goes against everything this country stands for and I hope the perpetrator is quickly caught and sentenced to life imprisonment.