On the night of Feb. 12, 2009, Aasiya Hassan was murdered and beheaded by her estranged husband, Muzzammil Hassan, inside the building of the American-Muslim TV venture they operated together. While the murder took place, the couple’s two young children—four-year-old Rania and six-year-old Danyal—were waiting for their mother in a car outside the building, along with Muzzamil Hassan’s 17-year-old son from an earlier marriage.
The brutal account is a reminder that domestic violence often has devastating consequences when it goes untreated. Police records show that the Hassan family had been struggling with Muzzammil Hassan’s abuse long before the alleged murder took place. Muzzammil Hassan, a prominent member of Buffalo’s Muslim community, had for years battled a psychiatric illness that led to violent rages when he went off his medication. His two previous marriages were also marred by abuse allegations.
The Daily Beast has reported more details about the family’s secretive private life. On New Year’s Day 2007, for example, Muzzammil allegedly left Aasiya Hassan’s car in the parking lot of a car dealership outside town to keep her from leaving their home.
Almost two years before the alleged murder, on March 26, 2007, a family court judge in Erie County, N.Y., ordered Muzzammil Hassan to complete “co-parenting” and “anger management” classes.
In July 2007, while on a visit with her in-laws in Texas, Aasiya Hassan files domestic violence charges against her husband. According to the police report, she said that Muzzammil “coerced her into a bedroom.”and "pushed her down onto the bed, sat on her chest and pinned her arms and legs down.” “This was done to ‘make’ her listen to him,” according to the report.
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