Alawadi, a 32-year-old
U.S. citizen who had emigrated from Iraq in the early 1990s, was found beaten to death in her home.[1] Alawadi's death was initially seen as a
hate crime and that she was murdered for being a
Muslim.[2] Alawadi's husband Kassim Alhimidi was eventually charged and convicted for her murder and sentenced to 26 years to
life in prison.[3][4]
Background
Alawadi's family fled Iraq after
Saddam Hussein's government suppressed
Shiite uprisings, and settled in
Detroit in 1993. They moved to
San Diego in 1996.[5] Alawadi was a housewife who had five children and volunteered at the local
mosque. Her husband and brothers worked for the
United States Army training soldiers who were to be deployed to the
Middle East.[6]
Death
On March 21, 2012, Alawadi was logged onto
Yahoo! Messenger and corresponding with someone in Iraq when she was attacked at her home in
El Cajon.[7] Alawadi's 17-year-old daughter Fatima found her unconscious, having been brutally beaten, on the floor of their dining room. Next to her was a note which read "Go back to your country, you
terrorist;"[5][6] the sliding glass door was smashed. A similar note had allegedly been left a week earlier. Although police were not able to immediately determine whether or not the murder was a
hate crime, the note led them to consider the possibility.[8] The cause of Alawadi's death was determined to be severe
head trauma. Her family took her off
life support on March 24, and her body was flown to Iraq for burial.[6]
Aftermath and investigation
Some activists and commentators compared the crime to the
killing of Trayvon Martin that had taken place less than a month earlier. The
hoodie that Martin was wearing was said to feed into
racial profiling that led an armed civilian to shoot the unarmed teenager. Alawadi's
hijab was similarly said to have marked her as Muslim to the person who murdered her.[8][9] The death was initially portrayed in the media as a hate crime due to the note left with the body, and thus an act of
Islamophobia.[10]
As the investigation, in which the local police were assisted by the
FBI, developed, records were accidentally released to the press which indicated that Alawadi was thinking of filing for
divorce from her husband and moving. This and other family issues, including her daughter's refusal to proceed with an
arranged marriage, led the police to consider the possibility that the murder was not a hate crime.[11] Due to this information, the death was described as a
misogyny hate crime in Time.[12]
Kassim Alhimidi, the 48-year-old husband of Shaima Alawadi, was arrested on the evening of November 8, 2012 and charged in her death, according to
San Diego County jail records.[13] Alhimidi was ordered held without
bail, and pleaded not guilty to Alawadi's murder.[14] The trial was delayed until March 2014, while defense attorneys looked through evidence.[15] During the trial, the actions of their daughter Fatima, prior to the death of Alawadi, was a focus of some of the testimony.[16] In April 2014, Alhimidi was found guilty of
murder,[3] and in June 2014, Alhimidi was sentenced to 26 years to
life.[17]