The crime drips with brutal irony:

[datasuspect]

Founder of TV network aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes accused of beheading wife in NY

By CAROLYN THOMPSON | Associated Press Writer
1:07 AM CST, February 18, 2009

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — The crime drips with brutal irony: a woman decapitated, allegedly by her estranged husband, in the offices of the television network the couple founded with the hope of countering Muslim stereotypes.

Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan is accused of beheading his wife last week, days after she filed for divorce. Authorities have not discussed the role religion or culture might have played, but the slaying gave rise to speculation that it was the sort of "honor killing" more common in countries half a world away, including the couple's native Pakistan.

Funeral services for Aasiya Hassan, 37, were Tuesday. Her 44-year-old husband is scheduled to appear for a felony hearing Wednesday.

The Hassans lived in Orchard Park — a well-off Buffalo suburb that hadn't seen a homicide since 1986 — and started Bridges TV there in 2004 with the message of developing understanding between North America and the Middle East and South Asia. The network, available across the U.S. and Canada, was believed to be the first English-language cable station aimed at the rapidly growing Muslim demographic.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-wife-beheaded,0,1204186.story