CNN.com
Friends: Dead teen refused hijab
* Story Highlights
* Father denied bail after being charged with
killing girl
* Father claimed to have killed her during
emergency call
* Friends say she predicted her father would "kill
her" days before her death
* She stopped wearing head scarf a few months ago
after being teased, friends say
BRAMPTON, Ontario (AP) -- Aqsa Parvez would leave home
each morning wearing track pants and a Muslim head
scarf. Once the 16-year-old got to school, she would
remove the scarf and change into close-fitting jeans.
But, her friends said, her parents got wind of what
she was doing. Parvez soon began showing up at school
with bruises on her arms.
It was a struggle that may have led to Parvez' death
this week at the hands of her father, who was denied
bail Wednesday after being charged with strangling
her.
The killing has ignited a debate in Canada about the
conflict between first- and second-generation
immigrants who struggle to maintain traditional Muslim
values and their children's desire to fit into Western
culture. Canada has about 750,000 Muslims.
Parvez, whose family is of Pakistani origin, was
rushed to the hospital in critical condition Monday
after her father made an emergency call in which he
claimed to have killed her, police said. She later
died. VideoWatch as her friends describe her »
Police spokesman Wayne Patterson said authorities were
working to determine the motive and refused to confirm
it was over the hijab, the traditional Muslim head
scarf. A lawyer for the father said there was "more to
the story than just cultural issues."
But friends said Parvez was planning to leave home in
Mississauga, Ontario, because of tensions with her
family over her decision to stop wearing her head
scarf at high school. They said she often had bruises
and that she predicted days before her death that her
father would "kill her."
"Her dad would want her to be about Muslim this,
Muslim that, but she was more about living her life to
the fullest. She just wanted to show her parents that
you could be religious, but also be who you wanted to
be," said Alex Prasad, a friend and fellow student at
Parvez's suburban Toronto school, Applewood Heights
Secondary.
According to her friends, Parvez wore the hijab when
she started school at Applewood Heights last year. But
after getting teased about the head scarf, she stopped
wearing it a few months ago.
"Her parents would follow her to school or her sisters
would and then go home and tell her parents what she
was wearing," said Joel Brown, 17. "They'd come to the
back doors, just to spy up on her. Aqsa was always
afraid of them, especially her brother who she'd
sometimes see walking towards her, and she'd have to
scramble to put her hijab back on."
Brown said he was getting worried because Parvez would
show up at school with bruises on her arms, possible
signs of abuse at home that other friends had noticed
as well.
The tension with her family had become too much for
Parvez, who left home on several occasions. In the
days before her death, she had been staying with a
friend, Krista Garbutt. She was returning home last
weekend to collect some belongings to move out for
good, said Brown.
Brown said Parvez told him she was afraid of going
home Friday because her father would "kill her." He
said he thought she was speaking figuratively.
"She was scared," Brown said. "But students often talk
like that so I thought I'd see her the next day. I
didn't expect her never to return to school."
An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was "neck
compression," or strangulation, police said Wednesday.
Muhammed Parvez, a frail 57-year-old cab driver,
appeared unemotional during his brief appearance at a
Brampton court. He was ordered not to communicate with
his son Waqas, 26, who was charged with obstructing
police in connection with the girl's death.
A publication ban was imposed on the court
proceedings.
But outside the courtroom, the father's other son,
Sean Muhammed Parvez, told reporters he was not sure
what exactly led to his sister's death.
"We don't know so far. We are upset," he said, adding
that his mother was "sick" because of what happened.
Muhammed Parvez's lawyer, Joseph Ciraco, said the
family is distraught.
"It's clearly a tragedy," he said. "You've got a
sister that's gone and a father and brother in jail."
"We've heard what's being said in the newspapers and
her friends about the cultural problems at home. From
my brief discussions with the family, there's more to
this story than just the cultural issues, which could
play a part," Ciraco said.
Selma Djukic, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Council
on American-Islamic Relations, called it a case of
domestic abuse.
"This is a tragedy. This another woman that has
succumbed to domestic violence and we need to look at
what kind of services are available to families who
are immigrants and who are trying to make it in the
Canadian framework," Djukic said.
Shahina Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Social
Services Association, also called it a domestic
violence issue.
"To say it was about her not wearing the hijab, I
think that's an oversimplification. All we've heard is
from her peers saying that," Siddiqui said. "Many of
us who have teenagers or had teenagers know this is a
very difficult time. Their hormones and emotions are
raging and they are trying to assert their
independence."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights
reserved.This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/12/12/canada.headscarf.ap/index.html
© 2007 Cable News Network.
---------------
Jusfiq Hadjar gelar Sutan Maradjo Lelo
Allah yang disembah orang Islam tipikal dan yang digambarkan oleh al-Mushaf itu
dungu, buas, kejam, keji, ganas, zalim lagi biadab hanyalah Allah fiktif.
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