Iraqi-American woman slain in US is buried in Iraq

[March 31, 2012]  NAJAF, Iraq (AP) -- An Iraqi-American woman found bludgeoned to death in her California home last week, with a threatening note left beside her body, was buried in her native Iraq on Saturday. Relatives wept uncontrollably by her graveside and her father asked God to extoll revenge on those responsible for her death.

Earlier in the day, the body of Iraqi-born Shaima Alawadi was flown from the U.S. to the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, by a plane sent by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Two police cars escorted a pickup truck carrying Alawadi's casket, draped in an Iraqi flag, from the airport to the "Valley of Peace," a large cemetery where many Shiites prefer to bury their dead.

The cemetery, thought to be the world's largest, is located close to the tomb of Imam Ali, a cousin of Islam's seventh century Prophet Muhammad and founder of the Shiite faith. Mourners offered a prayer for Alawadi's soul at the tomb's mosque before they took her body into the cemetery for burial.

Relatives, including women clad in black, wept uncontrollably as they watched the burial. Alawadi's husband, Kassim Alhimidi, and teenage daughter Fatima fainted as the body was lowered into the grave.

"Oh God, take revenge on those responsible," Alawadi's father, Nabil Alawadi, screamed in anguish.

The 32-year-old Alawadi, a mother of five, was found unconscious by her daughter Fatima, 17, in the dining room of the family's home in El Cajon, one of America's largest enclaves of Iraqi immigrants. Three days later, she was taken off life support.

A note saying: "Go back to your country, you terrorist," was found near her body, the daughter told a local TV station.

El Cajon police declined to disclose the contents of the note but said it had led investigators to regard the killing as a possible hate crime.

"We are shocked by this criminal act against my daughter who called for love and tolerance," Alawadi's father said at the funeral. Haidar Alawadi, a relative, called on the Iraqi government to take quick action to press U.S. authorities to reveal the results of the investigation into Alawadi's killing. No suspects have been identified or apprehended so far.

"We are totally surprised at the attitude of the Iraqi government, which has not taken any action. What we want is the truth about this ugly crime," he said.

The victim and her family left Iraq in the early 1990s after a failed Shiite uprising against Saddam Hussein, who was ousted by a U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The family lived in refugee camps in neighboring Saudi Arabia before going to the United States. Saddam's troops had hanged Alawadi's uncle.

The family arrived in the Detroit area in 1993 and later moved to San Diego. Shaima Alawadi was a religious Shiite Muslim who wore a hijab and volunteered at the local mosque.

[Associated Press; By HADI MIZBAN and BUSHRA JUHI]

Juhi reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

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