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Cabbie 'bludgeoned wife and kids to death with rounders bat'
Daily Mail (UK) ^ | 2/27/07 | JAMES TOZER
Posted on 02/27/2007 12:51:51 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
A father battered his wife and three young children to death with a rounders bat and then fled the country after becoming convinced that she was having an affair, a court has heard.
Uzma Rahan, 32, told her brother "Count the days until he kills me" after uneasily agreeing to move back in with her husband, Rahan Arshad, following a lengthy separation, a jury was told.
Three months later the decomposing bodies of Mrs Rahan and her children, Adam, 11, Abbas, eight, and Henna, six, were discovered at the family home after relatives became concerned and raised the alarm, a jury was told.
All four were said to have been killed three weeks earlier by the 36-year-old taxi driver shortly after he took them on an outing to Blackpool - wristbands giving access to rides were found on two of the children's bodies.
Arshad had allegedly flown to Thailand the next morning, but he was traced and agreed to return to Britain.
When arrested on arrival at Heathrow he allegedly said: "I confess to the murder."
Reminded that he was under caution, the court heard he added: "My beautiful kids. I don't regret killing that f****** bitch, but my kids, killing my kids..."
He went on trial at Manchester Crown Court where a jury was told that he admits killing his wife but blames her for murdering all three children.
Paul Reid, QC, prosecuting, described Mrs Rahan, a school dinner lady and part-time beautician, as a "tall, striking, attractive woman" who often wore jewellery and tight Western clothing.
"The defendant, it seems, disapproved of how she dressed and was jealous and possessive, claiming that men were looking at her when they were out together."
In 2003, rumours spread through the Asian community in Burnage, Manchester that Mrs Rahan was having an affair with a married man referred to by Mr Reid as "Nikki", the court heard.
"Despite Uzma's denials to many about the affair, including her family and friends, the affair was an open secret and lasted until about April 2006," he added.
By the end of 2003, Arshad is said to have become "obsessed" with the alleged affair, confronting his wife's relatives with texts supposedly from her lover.
The following year she returned to Pakistan alone following the death of her father, but Arshad turned up unexpectedly with the children and announced he was divorcing her, the court heard.
Not only had he bought them one-way tickets and hidden their passports, but he had sold the family home along with all his wife's possessions, said Mr Reid.
"Homeless and destitute", she managed to return to Britain with the children, living in a hostel until she was given a council house.
In 2005, Arshad reappeared, and after a tentative reconciliation, in May last year she agreed to move into the semi-detached house he had bought in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester.
However, according to Mr Reid, he had previously threatened to kill her and the children, and she confided to her brother that she remained uneasy, adding: "Count the days until he kills me."
In the following weeks, the jury heard, his behaviour became increasingly strange.
He "showered her with gifts" including a £30,000 BMW which he said was a birthday present - in fact it was on hire purchase - as well as jewellery and a plasma television, and said he had booked the family a holiday in Dubai.
According to Uzma's brother Mustajab, Arshad asked him whether the purchase of the car was a surprise to the family, then added: "Well just wait - there will be an even bigger surprise."
Jurors wept as Mr Reid alleged how Arshad battered his wife and children to death on July 28, the first evening of the school holidays, with the rounders bat he had bought the day before.
The next morning he drove down to Heathrow in the BMW, catching a flight to Bangkok he had secretly booked two weeks earlier, according to Mr Reid.
It was not until three weeks later, on August 20, that the badly-decomposed bodies were discovered. Mrs Rahan's body was in the bedroom while the children's were lying, covered, on the floor of the lounge.
Following his arrest back at Heathrow, Arshad made no further comment.
However his defence now is that his wife killed all three children while he was out and that, enraged, he killed her, said the prosecutor.
Arshad admits one count of manslaughter on the grounds of provocation but denies the murders. The trial continues.
ON THE NET...
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/documents/criminal_info.pdf
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan/press/2006/10-13-06.pdf
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1792122/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=shorbagi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=hamas
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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/02/27/ap/national/mainD8NI7SPO5.shtml
"Ga. Imam Sentenced for Aiding Hamas
Georgia Imam who pleaded guilty to aiding Hamas sentenced to 7 years, 8 months"
ROME, Ga., Feb. 27, 2007
By DANIEL YEE Associated Press Writer
ARTICLE SNIPPET: "(AP) The imam of a Georgia mosque who pleaded guilty to providing support to the militant group Hamas was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison.
Mohamed Shorbagi, 42, could have faced up to 15 years in prison.
Shorbagi pleaded guilty in August to providing material support to the militant group Hamas in a case in which the agreement, charges and even the plea hearing were handled in secret. U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy sentenced him Tuesday to seven years and eight months in prison.
At the sentencing, Shorbagi said he realized that some of his actions were wrong.
He pleaded guilty in August to a charge of providing material support to Hamas and also testified in a Chicago case against a man identified by authorities as a Hamas operative.
Prosecutors have said that between 1997 and 2001, Shorbagi provided financial support to Hamas, a group designated by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization. He also was accused of conspiring to provide material support to Hamas. The donations were through a charity called the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, prosecutors said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Dammers suggested that his sentence be less than 15 years because of Shorbagi's help in testifying for the government in other terrorism-related trials."