(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Muslim Boy, 6, Is Mourned After Illinois Attack Linked to Mideast War [1]
['Julie Bosman', 'Mitch Smith', 'Robert Chiarito', 'Jamie Kelter Davis', 'More About Julie Bosman', 'More About Mitch Smith']
Date: 2023-10-16
At the front of an Illinois mosque, a short white coffin was draped in a Palestinian flag.
The boy inside, a Lego-loving, 6-year-old soccer fan named Wadea Al-Fayoume, was too young to have understood the complicated politics of the place his Palestinian parents left behind, or of this country where he was being raised. But, the authorities in suburban Chicago said, he became a casualty of those divisions nonetheless.
Wadea, who should have been at school on Monday, was instead mourned by an enormous crowd that filled the large mosque in Bridgeview, Ill., and spilled outside. Prosecutors said that he was stabbed to death over the weekend in an attack motivated by hate for Muslims amid the fighting in Israel and Gaza. A short drive away from the mosque, Wadea’s 71-year-old landlord, who was charged in his killing, was making his initial appearance in court.
Image Wadea, 6, was remembered as a kind child who loved swimming, jumping and playing games, and celebrated his birthday only days ago. Credit... CAIR National
Family members and friends remembered Wadea as a kind child who loved swimming, jumping and playing games, and celebrated his birthday only days ago. Wadea’s mother, Hanan Shaheen, who was seriously injured in the attack, was still recovering and not able to attend the funeral, according to Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/16/us/stabbing-hate-crime-funeral.html
Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/
