WASHINGTON: A tight-knit Muslim community in the suburbs of Washington was in shock Monday after a 17-year-old girl was apparently beaten to death and dumped in a pond following late-night prayers at the local mosque.
Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, have charged a 22-year-old local man, Darwin Martinez Torres, with the teenager’s killing, and said on Twitter they were “NOT investigating this murder as a hate crime.”
But social media lit up with expressions of anger over the crime, which follows a series of deadly incidents targeting Muslims in North America, and condolence over the sudden, seemingly random death of a young girl.
While the teen has yet to be officially named by police, friends and worshippers at the mosque in Sterling, known as the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, identified her as Nabra Hassanen, from the nearby town of Reston.
The attack occurred in the early hours of Sunday as a group of young Muslims were walking back from the town center plaza after midnight prayers at the mosque, according to accounts by police and worshippers.
“A man who appeared to be drunk got out of his car with a bat,” one of the youths, Tasneem Khan, wrote on social media.
All of the youths with the exception of Hassanen managed to run back to the mosque upon seeing the assailant.
Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights lawyer and commentator who attended the prayer service, said the teen was “apparently beaten to death by this man.”
Fairfax County police spokesman Don Gotthardt told AFP the assault is not being treated as a hate crime at this stage because “there is no information connecting the victim’s faith or religion to the crime.”
Still, on Twitter, many people expressed incredulity.
“Anyone want to explain to me why this isn’t being investigated as a hate crime? I am disgusted and so very saddened by this,” wrote someone with the handle @MaisieRae.
“We need strong leaders in this country condemning hate crimes or we need new leaders who will,” added @paulshread.
A vigil for the slain girl has been scheduled for Wednesday evening in her home town of Reston.
The attack occurred during the waning days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. In North America, Ramadan is due to end with Eid Al-Fitr celebrations starting Saturday.
The teens had apparently gone out to eat at a restaurant before starting their fast at sunrise. Hassanen was reported missing around 4:00 am and the remains were found at a nearby pond around 3:00 pm.
Police would not immediately confirm the nature of the assault and the exact manner of her death, pending a review by the chief medical examiner.
A widely distributed Snapchat photographic montage showed Hassanen, who wore a Muslim veil, smiling and sporting a golden nose ring.
Last month, two men were fatally stabbed in Portland, Oregon as they intervened to stop a man hurling anti-Muslim slurs at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Another man who tried to halt the attack was also wounded.
In Quebec, six worshippers were shot dead in an attack on a mosque in January.
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Muslim teen killed after leaving Virginia mosque
Muslim teen killed after leaving Virginia mosque
Myanmar junta calls coup-protesting civil servants back to work
- Tens of thousands of public workers left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience after the junta took power in 2021
- Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military
YANGON: Myanmar’s junta called on Sunday for ex-civil servants who quit their jobs in protest over the coup five years ago to report back to work, pledging to remove absent state employees from “blacklists.”
After the military snatched power in a coup on February 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience.
Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands on all sides.
Last week, the junta completed a month-long election it has touted as a return to civilian rule.
But the dominant pro-military party won a walkover victory in a vote democracy watchdogs say was stacked with army allies to prolong its grip on power.
The junta’s National Defense and Security Council said civil servants who “left their workplaces without permission for various reasons” since February 2021 should “report and make contact with the offices of their former departments.”
“Following verification, employees found not to have committed any offense, as well as those who had committed offenses but have already served their sentences and whose names still appear on the blacklists, are being removed from the blacklists,” the council said in a statement published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Public employees who had been absent from work were placed on blacklists, “leading some to remain in hiding,” it added.
After the coup, in which the military ousted the elected government of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, tens of thousands of striking public workers joined the “Civil Disobedience Movement” in protest.
The junta responded with a crackdown on demonstrators, relying on tips from informers and surprise raids to round up those on strike.
Today, more than 22,000 people are languishing in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
Suu Kyi remains in military detention and her massively popular party has been dissolved.
The junta’s phased elections ended last Sunday without voting in one in five of Myanmar’s townships, amid fighting that has left large swaths of the country outside military control.
Parties that won 90 percent of seats in the previous election in 2020 — won in a landslide by Suu Kyi’s party — did not appear on the ballot this time, the Asian Network for Free Elections said.
After the military snatched power in a coup on February 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience.
Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in a civil war that has killed tens of thousands on all sides.
Last week, the junta completed a month-long election it has touted as a return to civilian rule.
But the dominant pro-military party won a walkover victory in a vote democracy watchdogs say was stacked with army allies to prolong its grip on power.
The junta’s National Defense and Security Council said civil servants who “left their workplaces without permission for various reasons” since February 2021 should “report and make contact with the offices of their former departments.”
“Following verification, employees found not to have committed any offense, as well as those who had committed offenses but have already served their sentences and whose names still appear on the blacklists, are being removed from the blacklists,” the council said in a statement published in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Public employees who had been absent from work were placed on blacklists, “leading some to remain in hiding,” it added.
After the coup, in which the military ousted the elected government of democratic figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, tens of thousands of striking public workers joined the “Civil Disobedience Movement” in protest.
The junta responded with a crackdown on demonstrators, relying on tips from informers and surprise raids to round up those on strike.
Today, more than 22,000 people are languishing in junta jails, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners monitoring group.
Suu Kyi remains in military detention and her massively popular party has been dissolved.
The junta’s phased elections ended last Sunday without voting in one in five of Myanmar’s townships, amid fighting that has left large swaths of the country outside military control.
Parties that won 90 percent of seats in the previous election in 2020 — won in a landslide by Suu Kyi’s party — did not appear on the ballot this time, the Asian Network for Free Elections said.
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