Muzzammil Hassan
Encyclopedia
Muzzammil Syed Hassan, also known as Mo Steve Hassan, (born May 26, 1964), is a Pakistani
-American man convicted of murder. He was the CEO of Bridges TV
(he resigned in February 2009), the first American Muslim
television network
broadcast in English
.
He was found guilty of second degree murder for beheading
murder
of his wife of eight years, Aasiya Zubair
on February 7, 2011.
at age 17, 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. He went on to become a successful banker in Buffalo, New York
.
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." Hassan expressed belief that some moderate Muslims could not identify with the extreme stereotype
s 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." The Hassans received an award for this effort from the Council on American-Islamic Relations
in 2007.
. 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. 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, where it is reported he was banging on doors and even broke a window.
The divorce petition cited "violence and inhuman treatment" as the reason. Police reports indicated that Zubair stated her husband's abusive and controlling behavior had begun at least six years earlier. 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.
At the Muslim Community Center in Amherst, New York
, more than 200 gathered for early morning prayers and a funeral
service for Ms. Hassan, who had been active at the center’s mosque
. “She was more of a practicing Muslim” than her husband, said attendee Hassan Shibly to the New York Times, who worked for the television station with the Hassans prior to enrolling in law school
. “She really believed in the cause, wanting to present her faith in an accurate light and now people are blaming her very faith for her death.”
The victim' s sister, 42-year old Asma Firfirey of the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa, said she and her husband Amier talked to Aasiya Hassan the day of the murder. According to Asma Firfirey, she heard her sister tell Muzzammil Hassan to "calm down" and that they "could talk the following day about the divorce". According to Asma and her husband, they described hearing what sounded like her sister struggling to breathe before the telephone connection ended. Asma Firfirey has said that Hassan, whom she calls "the fat man with the evil eyes," will be more dangerous when he is released on bail.
Khalid Qazi
, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
of Western New York
and a friend of the couple, said that Hassan "was worried about the station's future" and added "Domestic violence
is despicable, and Islam
condones it in no way whatever." Afshan Qureshi, a local Muslim leader and the president of an advocacy group in Rochester, New York
for domestic violence victim, lamented that the community had been too quick to overlook Muzzammil Hassan's faults: "We punished the victims. People said the first marriage failed because the girl was American, the second marriage failed because the girl wasn’t patient enough and then, look, the third wife is happy. Everything is OK. The community is an accomplice in the story of Muzzammil Hassan."
Conversely, Marcia Pappas
, New York State president of the National Organization for Women
opined "This was apparently a terroristic version of honor killing
, a murder rooted in cultural notions about women’s subordination to men." Pappas' superior, Kim Gandy
, president of the National Organization of Women, stated:
On March 5, 2010, Hassan's attorneys announced that Hassan "isn't even a practicing Muslim and that public speculation has been unfair."
According to a former employee, in the past few years Bridges TV transformed itself into more of a cross-cultural network seeking to bridge the gap between all cultures. Most of their employees were not Muslim, the former employee said, and Muzzammil Hassan himself was not devout, neither praying
nor fasting
. Out of deference to his Jewish friends, Hassan expressed aversion to producing shows about Palestine
. Nancy Sanders, the television station's news director for over two years, said "I just do not feel it was an honor killing. I think it was domestic abuse that got out of control." No elaboration appears for domestic vioence that would not be considered out of control.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations
and the Islamic Society of North America
responded with an "Open Letter to Muslim Leaders", expressing shock and sadness at the murder, condemning domestic violence, and calling on imam
s and Muslim leaders to "provide support and help to protect the victims of domestic violence" and "to never second-guess a woman who comes to us indicating that she feels her life to be in danger".
, Hassan was married twice before: first, to a Caucasian American woman, Janice, with whom he had two children, Michael and Sonia; second, for 13 months to a Pakistani-American Muslim woman, Sadia. According to Sadia's cousin, Zerqa Abid, both of his earlier wives filed for divorce on the same grounds of severe domestic violence and abuses.
In addition to the two children from his first marriage (ages 19 and 20), he has two children (a girl age 6 and a boy age 8) from his third marriage (to Aasiya).
and feared for his life. Hassan initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder. The trial began on Tuesday, January 18, 2011. On Monday, January 24, Hassan gained permission form Judge Thomas Franczyk to represent himself after repeatedly trying to dismiss his own defense attorney, Jeremy Schwartz. Hassan did admit, however, that he had beaten his wife repeatedly between December 2007 and March 2008.
On January 24, Hassan asked for the case to be dismissed, citing lack of evidence by the prosecution. This request was denied. On the same day, text messages between Hassan and his wife from the date of the murder were released as evidence. In a unusual turn, Hassan asked to represent himself. After first denying him, Erie County Court Judge Thomas Franczyk eventually granted his request. He testified on the 27th and 28 January, with his former defense attorney Jeremy Schwartz acting as his legal adviser.
Hassan is currently incarcerated in Clinton Correctional Facility
. His parole hearing date is set for October 2033.
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
-American man convicted of murder. He was the CEO of Bridges TV
Bridges TV
Bridges TV is a Muslim television network headquartered in Buffalo, New York. Premiering nationally in November 2004, it was the first American Muslim television network to broadcast in the English language....
(he resigned in February 2009), the first American Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
broadcast in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
.
He was found guilty of second degree murder for beheading
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of his wife of eight years, Aasiya Zubair
Aasiya Zubair
Aasiya Zubair, also known as Aasiya Hassan was with her husband Muzzammil Hassan, the founder and owner of Bridges TV, the first American Muslim English-language television network...
on February 7, 2011.
Professional life
Muzzammil Hassan came to the United States from PakistanPakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
at age 17, eventually graduating magna cum laude with an MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration
The University of Rochester Simon Graduate School of Business is the business school located on the University's River Campus in Rochester, New York. It was renamed after William E. Simon , the 63rd United States Secretary of the Treasury, in 1986...
at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
in 1996. He went on to become a successful banker in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
.
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." Hassan expressed belief that some moderate Muslims could not identify with the extreme stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s 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." The Hassans received an award for this effort from the Council on American-Islamic Relations
Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...
in 2007.
Arrest for murder
In February 2009, Hassan was arrested and charged with beheading his estranged wife Aasiya ZubairAasiya Zubair
Aasiya Zubair, also known as Aasiya Hassan was with her husband Muzzammil Hassan, the founder and owner of Bridges TV, the first American Muslim English-language television network...
. According to Orchard Park
Orchard Park (town), New York
Orchard Park is a town in Erie County, New York, a suburb southeast of Buffalo, New York. According to the 2010 census, the population is 29,054. This represents an increase of 5.13% from the 2000 census figure. The town contains a village also named Orchard Park. Orchard Park is one of the...
police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, Hassan came to the police station
Police station
A police station or station house is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.- Facilities...
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. 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
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
papers and an order of protection, where it is reported he was banging on doors and even broke a window.
The divorce petition cited "violence and inhuman treatment" as the reason. Police reports indicated that Zubair stated her husband's abusive and controlling behavior had begun at least six years earlier. Muzzammil Hassan was arraigned before Village Justice Deborah Chimes and sent to the Erie County Holding Center
Erie County Holding Center
The Erie County Holding Center in Buffalo, New York is a pre-trial, maximum security, detention facility that serves Erie County. Capable of housing 680 inmates, it is the second largest detention facility in New York State outside of New York City. Inmate "Over-flow" is housed at the Holding...
. Sources claimed to be close to the case said hunting knives were used to commit the crime.
Reaction to arrest
Shortly after the arrest, Bridges TV posted the following notice on their website:
Bridges TV is deeply shocked and saddened by the murderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of Aasiya [Zubair] Hassan and subsequent arrest of Muzzammil Hassan. Our deepest condolences and prayers go out to the families of the victim. We request that their right to privacy be respected.
At the Muslim Community Center in Amherst, New York
Amherst, New York
Amherst is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 122,366. This represents an increase of 5.0% from the 2000 census. The town is named for Jeffrey Amherst, a British Army officer of the colonial period...
, more than 200 gathered for early morning prayers and a funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
service for Ms. Hassan, who had been active at the center’s mosque
Mosque
A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...
. “She was more of a practicing Muslim” than her husband, said attendee Hassan Shibly to the New York Times, who worked for the television station with the Hassans prior to enrolling in law school
Law school
A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...
. “She really believed in the cause, wanting to present her faith in an accurate light and now people are blaming her very faith for her death.”
The victim' s sister, 42-year old Asma Firfirey of the vicinity of Cape Town, South Africa, said she and her husband Amier talked to Aasiya Hassan the day of the murder. According to Asma Firfirey, she heard her sister tell Muzzammil Hassan to "calm down" and that they "could talk the following day about the divorce". According to Asma and her husband, they described hearing what sounded like her sister struggling to breathe before the telephone connection ended. Asma Firfirey has said that Hassan, whom she calls "the fat man with the evil eyes," will be more dangerous when he is released on bail.
Khalid Qazi
Khalid Qazi
Khalid Qazi. MD is an internist and residency program director at Sisters of Charity Hospital, Buffalo, New York and president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council of Western New York. He was among a group of Pakistani Americans who met with George W. Bush in 2001 following the September 11 attacks...
, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council
Muslim Public Affairs Council
The Muslim Public Affairs Council is a national American Muslim advocacy and public policy organization headquartered in Los Angeles and with offices in Washington D.C...
of Western New York
Western New York
Western New York is the westernmost region of the state of New York. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Niagara Falls, the surrounding suburbs, as well as the outlying rural areas of the Great Lakes lowlands, the Genesee Valley, and the Southern Tier. Some historians, scholars and others...
and a friend of the couple, said that Hassan "was worried about the station's future" and added "Domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
is despicable, and Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
condones it in no way whatever." Afshan Qureshi, a local Muslim leader and the president of an advocacy group in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
for domestic violence victim, lamented that the community had been too quick to overlook Muzzammil Hassan's faults: "We punished the victims. People said the first marriage failed because the girl was American, the second marriage failed because the girl wasn’t patient enough and then, look, the third wife is happy. Everything is OK. The community is an accomplice in the story of Muzzammil Hassan."
Conversely, Marcia Pappas
Marcia Pappas
Marcia Pappas is the New York State president of the National Organization for Women.She has been called "the most visible activist in New York State" and has said that Sarah Palin’s nomination as the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate was "an obvious play for the support that Hillary...
, New York State president of the National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
opined "This was apparently a terroristic version of honor killing
Honor killing
An honor killing or honour killing is the homicide of a member of a family or social group by other members, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family or community...
, a murder rooted in cultural notions about women’s subordination to men." Pappas' superior, Kim Gandy
Kim Gandy
Kim Gandy is an American feminist and was the president of the National Organization for Women from 2001 until 2009. In 2009 Gandy was a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government...
, president of the National Organization of Women, stated:
Although the crime was quickly decried by Muslim groups, many talk shows and blogs used the horror of Muzzammil's act to indict an entire community -- in a way that they would never have accused the entire Christian religionChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
because a MethodistMethodismMethodism is a movement of Protestant Christianity represented by a number of denominations and organizations, claiming a total of approximately seventy million adherents worldwide. The movement traces its roots to John Wesley's evangelistic revival movement within Anglicanism. His younger brother...
man murdered his estranged wife in a horrible way. Three weeks ago, a Chinese graduate student at Virginia Tech cut off a female friend's head with a knifeMurder of Yang XinThe murder of Yang Xin took place on 21 January 2009 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. Yang Xin, a 22-year-old Chinese graduate student who had just arrived from Beijing on January 8, was decapitated with a kitchen knife in a cafe on...
. Not a single news outlet referred to his religion.
On March 5, 2010, Hassan's attorneys announced that Hassan "isn't even a practicing Muslim and that public speculation has been unfair."
According to a former employee, in the past few years Bridges TV transformed itself into more of a cross-cultural network seeking to bridge the gap between all cultures. Most of their employees were not Muslim, the former employee said, and Muzzammil Hassan himself was not devout, neither praying
Prayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
nor fasting
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
. Out of deference to his Jewish friends, Hassan expressed aversion to producing shows about Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. Nancy Sanders, the television station's news director for over two years, said "I just do not feel it was an honor killing. I think it was domestic abuse that got out of control." No elaboration appears for domestic vioence that would not be considered out of control.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations
Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...
and the Islamic Society of North America
Islamic Society of North America
The Islamic Society of North America , based in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, is a Muslim umbrella group. It has been described in the media as the largest Muslim organization in North America.-History:...
responded with an "Open Letter to Muslim Leaders", expressing shock and sadness at the murder, condemning domestic violence, and calling on imam
Imam
An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...
s and Muslim leaders to "provide support and help to protect the victims of domestic violence" and "to never second-guess a woman who comes to us indicating that she feels her life to be in danger".
Previous marriages and children
Prior to his marriage to Aasiya ZubairAasiya Zubair
Aasiya Zubair, also known as Aasiya Hassan was with her husband Muzzammil Hassan, the founder and owner of Bridges TV, the first American Muslim English-language television network...
, Hassan was married twice before: first, to a Caucasian American woman, Janice, with whom he had two children, Michael and Sonia; second, for 13 months to a Pakistani-American Muslim woman, Sadia. According to Sadia's cousin, Zerqa Abid, both of his earlier wives filed for divorce on the same grounds of severe domestic violence and abuses.
In addition to the two children from his first marriage (ages 19 and 20), he has two children (a girl age 6 and a boy age 8) from his third marriage (to Aasiya).
Trial
A prosecutor has accused Hassan of stabbing his wife 40 times before beheading her because she filed for divorce six days before. Hassan's lawyer, Jeremy Schwartz, claims Hassan was beaten by his wifeDomestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
and feared for his life. Hassan initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder. The trial began on Tuesday, January 18, 2011. On Monday, January 24, Hassan gained permission form Judge Thomas Franczyk to represent himself after repeatedly trying to dismiss his own defense attorney, Jeremy Schwartz. Hassan did admit, however, that he had beaten his wife repeatedly between December 2007 and March 2008.
On January 24, Hassan asked for the case to be dismissed, citing lack of evidence by the prosecution. This request was denied. On the same day, text messages between Hassan and his wife from the date of the murder were released as evidence. In a unusual turn, Hassan asked to represent himself. After first denying him, Erie County Court Judge Thomas Franczyk eventually granted his request. He testified on the 27th and 28 January, with his former defense attorney Jeremy Schwartz acting as his legal adviser.
Hassan is currently incarcerated in Clinton Correctional Facility
Clinton Correctional Facility
Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Correctional Services state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison itself is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannemora, although its actual name is derived from its location in Clinton County,...
. His parole hearing date is set for October 2033.