Sources: repair of an old car may be involved in killing of Orland Park man

Police are investigating the murder of Lockport resident Ibrahim Nofal, 28, who was reported missing Tuesday July 13. Nofal operated an auto repair shop at 15563 S. 70th Court in Orland Park.

Nofal's body was discovered Saturday morning by hikers in Pilcher Park in Joliet. The coroner confirmed his identity early Tuesday.

A video shows a silver or gray 1996 to 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee pulling in to Nofal's shop around 6:30 pm last week. It drove away a short time later. Orland Park police, according to reports, believe Nofal was in the car.

Details on the murder are sketchy and his family and relatives are in shock. Services have been held for him at the local mosques.

Sources are saying that it is possible that there was a disagreement involving the repair of a vehicle that Nofal had sold to a customer, but there is no confirmation. Police have declined to speculate on the reason for the apparent kidnapping or the cause of death which remains under investigation.

Police are asking if anyone knows any information on the death to call Orland Park police at 708-349-4111, Joliet Police at 815-724-3100 or the Will County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-323-6734. The family has offered a $50,000 reward for information on his whereabouts.

Reports say the reward may be increased in light of his death, and to anyone who provides information leading  to the arrest of the individual or individuals involved.

END

Orland Park Police Chief defends his department

Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy defended the conduct of his officers against claims that they may have abused the rights of Nour Hadid, the Arab Muslim woman charged in the murder of her two year old niece.

Ghia Hadid was found dead and a pathology report, which attorneys for Nour Hadid dispute, concluded the two year old died from blunt trauma over a four day period. The baby’s body reportedly had 55 bruises.

But McCarthy insisted the Nour Hadid case was handled not by the Orland Park Police but rather by the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force.

“The reason the investigation was initiated was that a team of experts at the Medical Examiner’s office said the 55 wounds on this little girl were consistent with child abuse. There is no other way these could have occurred other than by the belt,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy said the probe was not conducted by the Orland Park Police but by the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force. Nour Hadid, after two days of interrogation, confessed to the killing.

“The interview of the suspect, at that time, was monitored by the assistant state’s attorney from beginning to end. And finally, the interview was not done by an Orland Park police officer,” McCarthy said during an interview Monday morning on “Radio Chicagoland” on WJJG 1530 AM Radio.

“We assisted. We called in the South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force. The interview of the suspect was done by Arab speaking members of the Task Force. In fact one of the members works with the FBI… all of which was monitored by the Assistant States Attorney.”

Nour Hadid’s attorneys, Reem Odeh and Joel Brodsky said they believed that the pathology report is incorrect and that their client was “humiliated” into a position where she falsely confessed.

Odeh said that Nour Hadid had her Hijab removed during the mug-shot booking. The mug-shot showed Nour Hadid naked from just below the shoulders up.

“When someone is booked, there is no police department in the country that allows people to wear a hat, sun glasses like that. As far as the rest of the clothing, it is what the person had on at the time. No more. No less. And that is what is in the picture. The press requested the picture,” McCarthy explained.

Controversy surfaced over whether or not the police humiliated Nour Hadid by forcing her to remove her Hijab. But the Hijab that Nour Hadid wore was not a typical Hijab that simply covered her head. The Hijab she wore was an extended Hijab that covered the upper torso of her body.

With the Hijab removed, she would appear as if she had also been stripped of her clothing, a view confirmed by Amani Ghouleh, who is the publisher of the Arab Horizon (al-Offok al-Arabi) Newspaper and who has closely monitored the situation.

“Everyone is innocent until proven guilty,” Ghouleh explained.

But she added, “Her Hijab when the police came, was a long Hijab that covered her head and shoulders. It is more than just a Hijab it is outer wear,” Ghouleh explained.

Ghouleh said that McCarthy does have “great respect” in the American Arab and Muslim community, but noted that McCarthy did acknowledge responsibility for releasing the photograph. She said the police should have used discretion to only release an appropriate photograph, not one that was so revealing.

While McCarthy and Odeh will square off on the issue of the humiliation and evidence reviewed by the pathologist, rightwing conservatives have been portraying this as a Muslim trying to get special treatment in the United States, a common theme advocated by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racists.

Nour Hadid is being held without bond. Odeh said she will be interviewing the suspect soon.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

East and West clash even in backdrop of child's killing

East and West collide even in a child’s death
By Ray Hanania

Earlier this week, a woman was arrested and charged with the murder of her two year old niece. The story itself is tragic enough, but on top of it are details of her religion. She happens to be Muslim in a region of Chicago where anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hatred has been notorious prevalent.

In this case, though, the woman, Nour Hadid, was charged with beating her niece by the Orland park Police Department. The police followed routine procedures and finger printed and also photographed for a standard police “mug shot” the accused suspect. But her attorneys, represented by Brodsky and Odeh LLC, claims she is the victim of pressure and intimidation.

The victim was two year old Bhia Hadid and an autopsy concluded the child was beaten to death by blunt trauma. She had 55 bruises police and medical examiners concluded occurred over a four day period at her home.

The mainstream media carried the story, which is amazingly tragic on its face. Few mentioned that Nour Hadid is a Muslim or an Arab, although to those in the community the race and religion seemed obvious.

The mug-shot of the suspect showed the suspect with an expression of great pain and grief, like she was crying. There was nothing unusual in the picture. But this morning, Nour Hadid’s husband accused the Orland Park Police of “discrimination,” arguing that his wife was innocent and had her religion disrespected because she normally wears a Hijab, or head covering.

Removing the Hijab and forcing his wife to pose for the picture and then making the picture public, he alleges in several media interviews, violated her rights as a Muslim and depicted her in a disrespectful manner.

Is it really racism? Should the debate be focused on whether or not the accused woman was in fact the victim of discrimination, which the Orland Park Police denied claiming they followed the same procedure for Nour Hadid as they do for all suspects?

Or, is the real story the tragic death of the two-year old girl. Beaten to death, according to the autopsy report?

There was no outrage over the death, but there have been many calls and emails complaining that Nour Hadid’s rights were violated. The incident has also drawn the ire of conservative media fanatics who have blasted the husband and who are using the discussion as a basis to foment their continued anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred.

According to the media, Nour’s husband, Alaeddin Hadid said Orland Park police are “really going to be in big trouble” for releasing the woman's booking photo to the news media after she was charged with first-degree murder. He continued that Nour, who is Muslim, “never leaves the home without covering up.” He vowed to file a lawsuit. He asserted, “It [being shown without your hijab] is against our religion; we do not do this in our culture.”

One Muslim activist is quoted in the media saying that the police would not have been so disrespectful to a Christian Nun. The constant comparison of Muslim women who wear a Hijab and Christian Nuns is a constant argument used to support charges of anti-Muslim bias in this country. But are the two really relevant?

Another said it was disrespectful, adding that she looked like she was in her “underwear.” The photo showed Nour Hadid from just below her shoulders upwards. Her arms were crossed over her chest which was not visible.

The comment regarding the nuns is especially offensive to Christians – mainstream Christians and Arab Christians, too – as it was made on the eve of Good Friday as Christians around the world prepare to celebrate Easter (this Sunday for mainstream Christians and next Sunday April 19th for Orthodox Arab Christians).

The fact is that a Nun is not just any woman who observes her religion and wears a head covering, called a “Habit.” In fact, they are official members of the Catholic Church and represent the Catholic Church in official capacities, working at Churches. The “Habits” are obligated by specific Church doctrine to be worn at all times.

Some Muslim women wear a Hijab, which is not to be confused with the oppressive “berqa.” A Hijab is a head and hair covering, similar to the coverings worn by Orthodox Jewish women and very conservative Christian women, too. A “berqa” is a full body covering that also includes the covering of the wearer’s face, which is offensive and reflective less of religious belief and more of male arrogance and domination over women, and not just Muslim women, but Jewish and Christian women too, who are often as easily enslaved in gender-driven oppression.

But the husband asked in the media, “Would they do that to a Nun?” Would they force a nun to remove her Habit off her face to pose for an official criminal identification photograph called a “mug shot?”

The answer is yes. Nuns arrested and charged in crimes have been photographed for mug shots without their head coverings, too. The mug-shots are not private either because police agencies are public institutions. That means that the mug-shot is a legitimately issued public domain property. The public has a right to know who is charged and alleged to be involved in a criminal offense, especially offenses of such heinous nature.

Is Nour Hadid guilty or innocent? Too often in America, Arabs and Muslims are guilty until proven innocent. That was in fact the policy of this country for the past eight years after Sept. 11, 2001, when 19 terrorists who happened to be Muslim, became the poster children of the anti-Muslim and anti-Arab conservative fanatics and mainly Christian zealots in this country.

Nour Hadid is innocent until proven guilty. But is this an incident of discrimination? I’m not sure. The Orland Park police were simply following procedure in events that were out of their control. A woman is accused of murdering a two year old child. And Orland Park has had a history of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim incidents.

It’s the murder of the child that is really the significance in this matter. In the face of such atrocities, some – I repeat some -- individual rights must be sacrificed, especially those rights with which have to do with identification.

You cannot permit anyone accused of a crime to hide behind their religious observance. The real tragedy is that the crime, whether Nour Hadid is innocent or guilty, imposes on us a vigilance that must place the need to determine the truth as our cumulative priority.

Let’s determine who did or did not kill baby Ghia Hadid. Everyone should be ready to make a personal sacrifice for that.
END

Hypocrisies abound in handling of Christian versus Muslim hoaxers

Dueling hoaxes expose more than youthful lies in bonfire of the bigotries
By Ray Hanania

The incidents happened weeks apart, a young Christian girl in Palos Heights, a community notorious for anti-Arab hatred and racism, told police that she had been sexually assaulted by an man she described as “Arab looking.”

Police developed a sketch of the suspect and the community response was immediate. The sketch was posted on nearly every store window not just in Palos Heights, but throughout the Southwest Suburbs across a 15 mile span that happened to correspond with the regional settlement of Arabs.

Although widely reported, the story even made America’s Most Wanted and host John Walsh repeated the description of the assailant being “creepy” looking.

Several weeks later, a Muslim girl reports she is assaulted at Elmhurst College. The news media covered the event and Muslim organizations stood up denouncing the attack as an example of rising anti-Muslim and anti-Arab hate crimes.

In contrast, there wasn’t a peep from Arab American groups as they are ineffective and dysfunctional. And, America’s Most Wanted, which always seems to highlight cases where the victims are White and the Assailants are Black and “creepy” looking Arabs, didn’t bother to even give the incident 15 seconds on their popular national weekend TV program.

Safia Jilani, 19, told Elmhurst Police that she was attacked in the bathroom at the Southwestern suburban college and the incident was declared a “hate crime” when police found threatening graffiti written on the bathroom’s mirrors and walls.

Just about the time of the Muslim attack, the family of the Christian assault victim hired an attorney and the attorney announced his client had lied to police and that no such sexual attack had taken place.

The attorney expressed genuine remorse from the family, apologizing to the public, the police and later to “ethnic groups” who felt targeted, a reference to the Arab American profile of the hoax. Police said they would not prosecute, although the investigation into the crime cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The girl has agreed to do community service.

But when Jilani’s hoax was discovered, after she admitted to police that she had made up the attack details, police immediately announced they would file charges against her. She is charged with a Class 4 Felony and can face up to 4 years imprisonment.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) which helped lead calls to declare the event a Hate Crime, responsibly and immediately issued a statement saying that false reports like Jilani’s undermine efforts to fight the many other, frequent incidents of discrimination that do occur.

Hate groups immediately flooded the Internet with statements denouncing Muslims as anti-American and citing the Jilani case as evidence that claims of discrimination are false.

Arab groups remained silent, reinforcing their view that doing nothing is oftentimes the best course of action.

What caused these students to do what they did?

In the case of the young Palos Heights girl, who is under-aged and her identity is therefore not made public, she was afraid to tell her parents about something she had done. The sexual assault would help her cover that up.

In the case of Jilani, earlier before she made up her lies, there was a clash between rightwing conservatives on the campus and students, including many Arabs and Muslims, who were protesting the abuse and violation of the rights of prisoners at Guantanamo, a detention center many compare to a concentration camp and a Russian Gulag. Many of the prisoners there are victims of politics and have never been charged with any crime, other than being Arab or Muslim.

Tensions were high at Elmhurst College but college officials acted responsibly to address the issues. Tensions were also high at Palos Heights but officials there have notoriously refused to address the rising incidents of hatred that have given the community the shameful moniker, “Palos Hates.”

Palos Heights was the site of the 2000 community protest to prevent their Muslim neighbors from establish a Mosque where they could pray. Palos Heights has two dozen Christian Churches, and no Synagogue.

While both girls are responsible for their lies, they are also victims of societies that put ethnic and religious faces on crimes. It’s not enough to capture a criminal. The suspects are used to argue racial issues that dominate American society and politics.

But there is one thing very clear.

When a Christian girl, who is White, cries wolf and it turns out she is lying, society is more willing to excuse her actions and not punish her with imprisonment of fines.

When a Muslim or Arab girl cries wolf and it turns out she is lying, the bonfires of bigotries and racism are ignited.

Although most of the police sketches of the phony “creepy” Arab assailant have been taken down from store windows, the mental sketches of hatred remain seared into the racism of a community disabled by hate.

(Ray Hanania is an award winning columnist and Chicago radio talk show host. He can be reached at www.RadioChicagoland.com or by email at rayhanania@comcast.net.)

Pioneer Football goes on minus former coach convicted of pornography

Last week, Lindsey "Dick" Dickinson, best known as a coach for the Pioneer Football Leagues (http://www.oppioneers.com/) in Orland Park, was sentenced to six years imprisonment for harboring a collection of child pornography. The issue of his religion came up in a very subtle way, but religion of the "wrong-doers" is a major issue these days, isn't it?

Southtown Story:
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/991484,060568coach.article

Chicagoist Story:
http://chicagoist.com/2008/06/06/football_coach.php

While most reporters focused on the story, a writer at the Chicago Sun-Times (who happens to be Muslim) emphasized the fact (headline and story) that he also played "Santa Claus" at Christmas events -- if this had been reversed some how and he were Muslim and leading prayers at a Mosque, I wonder how high his religious affiliations would have been played in the story?

Anyway, as a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA), I passed along the thought to the Media Watch Committee, where I also participate as a volunteer, and the consensus is it is pertinent to the story.

The larger issue, though, was his huge role in the local football league, which would seem like the better choice for the story lead and headline.

Tribune Story:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/989461,CST-NWS-kidporn05.article

Religion plays a subtle role in media coverage, as does race. Why? Because the public is fascinated more by a Santa who collects pornography more than a community football league coach.

For example, even in the Lane Bryant Murder case from Feb. 2, 2008 in Tinley Park, many readers have emailed me (and I am sure other reporters and columnists) wondering why no one has picked up on the fact that the suspect was wearing a "skull cap" on his head. The skull cap would suggest that the suspect might be a Muslim.

The suspect is believed to be African American. But Muslim? That shouldn't be surprising. There are 7 million Muslims in the United States and only 22 percent are Arab, many live on the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago. But the largest group of Muslims in America are actually Black Muslims.

That I haven't made much of the issue has prompted scorn from some readers. But then, no one has made much of that. Is it an issue?

Ray Hanania
http://www.orlandparker.com/
http://www.themediaoasis.com/