Accused Honor Killer Almaleki May Get Plea Deal
01/06/2011
A+
|
a-
Print Friendly and PDF
The Maricopa County prosecutor’s decision to offer a plea deal to an Iraqi immigrant who murdered his daughter for becoming too westernized is outrageous.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki used his Jeep to run down his daughter Noor and the mother of her boyfriend in a Peoria, Arizona, parking lot. Noor died after two weeks in a coma, and the other woman survived her serious injuries. He was furious that his daughter wanted to live as a free person in America rather than as a slave to Islam’s primitive directives.

The prosecutor originally considered pursuing the death penalty but rejected that idea. Why? The case was a brutal one and shouldn’t go without a trial to avoid upsetting Muslims.

And the fear of Muslims does figure in strongly to the decision to drop the death penalty. Almaleki’s lawyer successfully played the Muslim card by implying the state’s pursuit of the death penalty was because of the perp’s religion rather than his heinous crime. Shameful, but it worked.

Religion issue raised in case of Glendale man in ”honor killing’, The Arizona Republic, Jan. 13, 2010

The lawyer for an Iraqi immigrant accused of slaying his daughter in an ”honor killing” is asking a judge to take special precautions to ensure the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office doesn’t wrongly seek the death penalty against his client because he is a Muslim. […]

Citing a tie between the case and religious or cultural beliefs, [attorney Billie] Little is asking [County Attorney Andrew] Thomas’ office to record or keep transcripts of any meetings used to determine whether it will seek the death penalty for Almaleki.

”An open process provides some level of assurance that there is no appearance that a Christian is seeking to execute a Muslim for racial, political, religious or cultural beliefs,” Little wrote, referring to Thomas as a Christian.

Immoral lawyer tricks, like the one cited above, should not cause the justice system to cower in fear. The Muslim world needs to know that women are full citizens in America, and our society does not accept its misogynous sharia law. All honor crimes against women need to be punished to the extent the law allows. Harsh punishment of persons committing honor crimes may well provide a deterrent to future Muslim immigrant murders of women seeking to live as individuals.

Contact information for the Maricopa County Attorney may be found at this link. Please demand a vigorous prosecution at trial against the honor killer to support Western values of justice and equality.

Plea deal possible for Iraqi accused in killing, Associated Press, January 5, 2011

Attorneys began discussing a possible plea deal for an Iraqi immigrant accused of killing his daughter because he believed she was too Westernized, but failed to come to an agreement Wednesday.

The talks involving Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 50, lasted for hours at a closed-door meeting in Maricopa County Superior Court. His trial is set for Jan. 18.

Almaleki has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault and leaving the scene of a serious injury accident. If convicted, he could face life in prison. A plea deal could bring a lighter sentence.

Police say Almaleki slammed his Jeep into his daughter, 20-year-old Noor Almaleki, and her boyfriend’s mother in October 2009.

The mother lived, but Noor was in a coma for two weeks before she died from her injuries.

The case caused outrage nationwide after prosecutors deemed it an ”honor killing” because Almaleki had said his daughter dishonored his family and became too Westernized.

Faleh Almaleki moved his family from Iraq to the Phoenix suburb of Glendale in the mid-1990s. He wanted Noor to adhere to Iraqi traditions, but she wanted to be a typical American girl, according to court records and her close friends.

At 17, she refused to enter an arranged marriage in Iraq, enraging her father, according to a court document filed by prosecutors.

At 19, Noor moved into her own apartment and began working at a fast food restaurant but quit after her parents kept showing up at her work, insisting she return home, the document said.

Later in 2009, she moved in with her boyfriend and his parents, Reikan and Amal Khalaf, after saying her parents had hit her.

Faleh Almaleki regularly harassed his daughter and the Khalafs, once telling Reikan Khalaf that if his daughter didn’t move out of their home, ”something bad was going to happen,” the document said.

On Oct. 20, 2009, Noor Almaleki spotted her father when she and Amal Khalaf visited a Department of Economic Security office.

When the two women left the office, Faleh Almaleki hit them with his Jeep before fleeing the country, prosecutors said. Law enforcement soon caught up with him in London and returned him to Phoenix.

Noor Almaleki underwent spinal surgery but died Nov. 2, 2009. Amal Khalaf survived.

Print Friendly and PDF