Gee, I wonder why this is not a big story for MSM?
Yet, the poor little mistreated inmates at the "Grab an Arab" prison make headlines when they get posed for naughty pictures.
Argument over faiths probed in killing of 4
Jersey City man received chat-room death threat
Sunday, January 16, 2005
BY MIKE FRASSINELLI AND MARK MUELLER
Star-Ledger Staff
Authorities are exploring whether a religious argument in an Internet chat room led to the slaughter of a Coptic Christian couple and their two daughters in their Jersey City home, relatives of the slain family said yesterday.
One of the victims, 47-year-old Hossam Armanious, spent some of his spare time in chat rooms devoted to the Egyptian religious sect, at times proselytizing and at times writing about persecution of Coptic Christians by Muslims, family friends said.
Armanious' hobby took a dark turn about two months ago, friends said, when he was threatened after writing comments deemed an insult to Islam by another person logged in to a chat site.
"Some Muslim guys said if you don't stop this, we're going to come out and kill you," said a family friend, who requested anonymity, citing fears for his safety.
First Assistant Hudson County Prosecutor Guy Gregory would not comment on the possibility that the slayings were a bias crime.
"We are continuing the investigation, making inquiries on several theories, and will not comment further," Gregory said.
The friend said Armanious told him about the threat but did not seem especially worried about it. Those logged into the chat rooms frequented by Armanious are identified only by nicknames, providing a measure of anonymity.
Investigators, however, remain interested in the lead.
An uncle of Armanious' wife, Amal Garas, said yesterday that detectives told him they were pursuing the chat room argument as a possible motive for the slayings. The uncle, Milad Garas, was one of many family members interviewed by police Friday.
"One detective said this was his theory," the uncle said.
The FBI is assisting in the case, but a spokesman for the agency called the federal involvement a routine matter.
"It's nothing out of the ordinary for us to be there, especially given the gravity of the crime," said the spokesman, Special Agent Steve Siegel. "This was a horrible crime, and any time a law enforcement officer sees something like that, they're going to want to lend a hand."
The bodies of Armanious, Amal Garas, 37, and the couple's two children, 15-year-old Sylvia and 8-year-old Monica, were discovered early Friday, when worried relatives led police to their home in the Heights section of Jersey City.
The victims, who immigrated to the United States from Luxor, Egypt, in 1997, had been bound and gagged, their throats slashed. Police, noting no sign of forced entry, said Friday the victims most likely knew their killers.
Outside the home yesterday, friends of the slain family left personal notes and tokens of friendship: a purple stuffed dog, a SpongeBob SquarePants doll, a basket of artificial lilies and pansies.
A dozen teenagers, friends of Sylvia Armanious, clung to one another and cried after leaving candles on the sidewalk.
Not far away, at the family's parish, St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church, relatives gathered for six hours, sharing in memories and grief.
Ayman Garas, a brother of Amal Garas, said family members remain confused and devastated. His mother, Garas said, has been unable to sleep since the grisly discovery, her every moment haunted.
"She felt like four spirits were going around her all night yelling, 'Help, help,'" Ayman Garas said. "Up to this moment, it's a like a dream."
The attack has hit equally hard in the tight-knit Coptic community. Yesterday, the Coptic Business Association of Jersey City offered a $500,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
"Christian blood is not cheap," said the group's president, Adel Agib. "We want to know who killed them. We want to catch them."
While authorities maintain that no motive has been ruled out, news of the Internet threat against Armanious spread quickly among Copts, who seized on the theory that religious hatred played a role.
"This was a terrorist attack," said Amgad Zakhari, 32, a real estate investor who has known the Armanious family since their arrival in the United States. "It was to make an example of Egyptian Christians, to silence them. It has to be a religious motivation."
Other friends and family members said the manner of the killings suggested the same to them.
"The way they did this tragedy is not a normal thing," said Milad Garas, the uncle of Amal Garas. "Nobody does this for a robbery."
Fred Ayad, a deacon at St. George, performed last rites on the victims. The savagery of the attack, with the family members suffering multiple stab and slash wounds, showed hatred, he said.
But Ayad said he hoped the rumors swarming through the community did not roil Coptic-Muslim relations, a point repeated by the bishop who represents the Coptic community in the Northeast.
"We cannot at this point make speculations," said Bishop David, who uses only one name. "It is the job of the police who protect us and keep us safe to tell us who has done that, and bring them to court and bring them to justice."
Mohamed Younes, president of the American Muslim Union, a New Jersey group, also expressed worry that speculation about the killings would increase friction between the two groups.
"I don't like it when somebody is jumping to conclusions before the police find anything," Younes said. "In this case, you don't know who's behind this or why they'd want to do this."
Relations between Muslims and Coptic Christians have historically been tense. Copts are a minority in Muslim-dominated Egypt, and Coptic Web sites contain numerous accounts of persecution at the hands of the government and the nation's residents.
In Jersey City, the heart of New Jersey's Coptic community, Copts and Muslims share an uneasy peace, residents say.
Armanious, a banquet waiter known as a very devout man, did not intentionally slight Muslims when he visited Internet chat rooms, friends said.
"He was trying to tell people about Christianity," Zakhari said. "He was a good Christian. He was trying to use the Internet to help the community. He was trying to give the Christian word."
Armanious was so involved in the Internet talks that he became an administrator in one of the chat rooms, reached through an instant-messaging portal (www.paltalk.com).
The friend, who recounted the threat against Armanious and who requested anonymity, said the slain man had been engaged in the hobby for about five years. The altercation that unfolded two months ago started when another user of the site took offense to Armanious' comments about Islam, telling him to "shut up."
"I can say whatever I want," the friend said Armanious responded. "I live in America."
It was then that the other person threatened to come after Armanious, the friend said.
A funeral Mass for the family is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. tomorrow at St. George.
Staff writers Jeff Diamant, Kate Coscarelli and Brian Donohue contributed to this report.
