Muzzammil Hassan

Case record: Muzzammil Hassan

Background

Muzzammil Syed Hassan, also known as Mo Steve Hassan, was a Pakistani-American man convicted of murder. He was the CEO of Bridges TV and resigned in February 2009. Bridges TV was described as the first American Muslim television network broadcast in English.

Muzzammil Hassan was born May 26, 1964. He came to the United States from Pakistan at age 17. He graduated magna cum laude with an MBA from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester in 1996. He became a banker in Buffalo, New York.

In 2004, his wife Aasiya Zubair 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 stereotypes 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.

The offence

Aasiya Zubair Hassan was beheaded after being attacked in the studio where she and Muzzammil Hassan worked. The prosecution said she was murdered six days after filing for divorce. The prosecutor said Hassan "viciously killed ... and desecrated [his wife's] body because six days earlier she had dared to file for divorce," and the jury convicted him of second-degree murder.

The jury rejected Hassan’s claim that the killing was justified because he was long abused by and afraid of his wife. Hassan acted as his own lawyer during the trial.

According to a prosecutor, Hassan lured his wife to the television studio where the couple worked on Feb. 12, 2009. Hassan attacked her with a pair of hunting knives, stabbed her 40 times, and then severed her head. The stabbing was described as occurring in a 37-second frenzy that began when Hassan’s wife walked through the door. Surveillance video captured some of the attack inside a darkened hallway.

A prosecutor said Hassan "went on and on about his hurt and pain." During closing statement, Assistant District Attorney Paul Bonanno said:

"Think of Aasiya's hurt and pain in years of marriage and the final 30 or 40 seconds . trying desperately to fend off his two knives with her hands and possibly being conscious as he began to behead her,"

Another portion of the prosecution’s theory stated that a prosecutor accused Hassan of stabbing his wife 40 times before beheading her because she filed for divorce six days before.

Investigation

Police reports indicated prior domestic incidents involving the Hassans. Police most recently visited the Hassans’ home on February 6, 2009, the day Hassan was served with divorce papers and an order of protection. It was reported that Hassan was banging on doors and broke a window.

The divorce petition cited "violence and inhuman treatment" as the reason. Police reports also indicated that Zubair stated her husband's abusive and controlling behavior had begun at least six years earlier.

Shortly before the arrest, the Hassans’ home and life were also described as having included domestic violence calls to 911; the account stated that no charges were ever brought over the abuse despite several domestic violence calls to 911.

Arrest

In February 2009, Hassan was arrested and charged with beheading his estranged wife Aasiya Zubair.

Orchard Park police said 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.

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.

Trial

The trial began on Tuesday, January 18, 2011. Hassan initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of second-degree murder.

On Monday, January 24, Hassan gained permission from Judge Thomas Franczyk to represent himself after repeatedly trying to dismiss his own defense attorney, Jeremy Schwartz. Hassan admitted 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; the request was denied. On the same day, text messages between Hassan and his wife from the date of the murder were released as evidence.

After first denying his request, Erie County Court Judge Thomas Franczyk eventually granted Hassan’s request to represent himself. Hassan testified on the 27th and 28 January, with Jeremy Schwartz acting as his legal adviser.

Hassan was incarcerated in Clinton Correctional Facility. His parole hearing date was set for October 2033.

During closing remarks, Hassan stated:

"You're the only ones who've ever heard my side of the story after silence for 10 years,"

Hassan also said:

"The prosecution has never asked, who started it?" the killer said during his trial, WIVB 4 News in Buffalo reported. "They never asked the question, who started it? That is the core question that needs to be answered."

Hassan spent two-hour closing remarks describing himself as a slave to his wife's rages, and he said he was let down by a domestic-violence system that refuses to recognize men as victims. He said a "religion of patriarchy" in the domestic-violence system had "unleashed a bloodbath on American women because battered men have no legal way out."

According to a prosecutor, Hassan bought two hunting knives less than an hour before the attack, parked his luxury vehicle out of view at the station, and hid in wait inside.

The account said Hassan told jurors:

"He was not going to let that happen."

In response to allegations about culture playing a role, from the start, his lawyers dismissed suggestions that culture played a role in the killing.

A prosecutor said Hassan "went on and on about his hurt and pain." Prosecutors also cited numerous police reports filed by his wife and her medical records to prove she was the battered spouse.

Aasiya Hassan, 37, sought treatment for ailments including neck and back pain and early onset cataracts, which may have been caused by repeated trauma.

When Mo Hassan killed his wife, their then 4- and 6-year-old children were buckled into car seats outside in a van along with his teenage son from one of his two previous marriages.

After the killing, the two younger children were sent to live with their mother’s family in Pakistan, according to Hassan’s attorneys. Hassan also had a teenage daughter.

The trial also included testimony from the children during the trial that their father had been violent toward their stepmother in the past.

Hassan fired three of his lawyers and replaced a fourth with himself. He kept the fourth lawyer as an adviser, as required by law.

Sentencing

Hassan faced up to 25 years to life in prison when he was sentenced March 9, 2011. The jury convicted him in February 2011 of second-degree murder for the beheading.

On March 9, 2011, Hassan received a sentence of 25 years to life. The life sentence was accompanied by an order of protection to prevent the killer from contacting his two children.

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Outcome

Hassan was convicted of second-degree murder for the beheading murder of his wife Aasiya Zubair on February 7, 2011. He was sentenced to 25 years to life on March 9, 2011.

Aftermath

Bridges TV posted a notice on its website shortly after the arrest:

"Bridges TV is deeply shocked and saddened by the murder 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, more than 200 gathered for early morning prayers and a funeral service for Ms. Hassan, who had been active at the center’s mosque. Hassan Shibly, an attendee who worked for the television station with the Hassans prior to enrolling in law school, said:

“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". Asma Firfirey also said she and her husband heard what sounded like her sister struggling to breathe before the telephone connection ended.

Asma Firfirey said 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:

"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 president of an advocacy group in Rochester, New York for domestic violence victims, 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."

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 for 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 religion because a Methodist 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 knife. 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."

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."

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 imams 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."

In the months leading up to the trial, Hassan explored various versions of a psychiatric defense with different attorneys. Prosecutors said it was clear Hassan was a master manipulator who sought to control every aspect of his wife’s life, especially after she filed for divorce and put his reputation at risk.

Attorney Nadia Shahram, who lectured on the effects of religion and culture on family law at the University at Buffalo and who was in the courtroom for closing arguments, said:

"this was more than a domestic-violence homicide." Shahram said several factors led her to believe the death was "a mix of domestic violence and honor killing," including the separation of the victim's head from her body. Shahram said: "He separated the mind, which he saw as worthless, and kicked it," she said.

After the wife’s death, speculation arose that her death was an honor killing.

Other details

Prior marriages and children

Before marriage to Aasiya Zubair, Hassan was married twice before: first to Janice, a Caucasian American woman, with whom he had two children, Michael and Sonia; second for 13 months to Sadia, a Pakistani-American Muslim woman.

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.

He had two children from his first marriage with ages 19 and 20. He had two children (a girl age 6 and a boy age 8) from his third marriage to Aasiya. He also had a teenage daughter.

Divorce and protection order context

Hassan was served with divorce papers and an order of protection on February 6, 2009, the day of a police visit during which it was reported he banged on doors and broke a window.

Defense and psychiatric defense exploration

Hassan argued he was abused and afraid of his wife. Hassan’s lawyer, Jeremy Schwartz, claimed Hassan was beaten by his wife and feared for his life. Hassan sought dismissal citing lack of evidence.

Text messages between Hassan and his wife from the date of the murder were released as evidence on January 24, 2011.

Institutional and career details

Muzzammil Hassan founded Bridges TV in 2004. The American-Islamic station was designed to combat negative stereotypes of Muslims after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. His wife was described as the general manager. Bridges TV continues to broadcast.

A former employee said Bridges TV transformed itself into a cross-cultural network seeking to bridge the gap between all cultures. The former employee said most employees were not Muslim, and that Muzzammil Hassan himself was not devout, neither praying nor fasting. The former employee said Hassan expressed aversion to producing shows about Palestine out of deference to Jewish friends.

Date references included in the narrative

• Trial began on January 18, 2011.
• Hassan’s self-representation permission and denial of dismissal request occurred on January 24, with testimony on January 27 and 28.
• Conviction date stated as February 7, 2011.
• Sentencing date stated as March 9, 2011.