Mother of Palestinian American boy slain in suburban Chicago hate crime testifies at trial

Odai Alfayoumi, second from right, father of six-year-old Palestinian boy Wadee Alfayoumi, leaves Will County Courthouse with others where Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged with and on trial in the fatal stabbing of the boy and the wounding of his mother Hanan Shaheen, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Joliet, Ill. (AP)
Odai Alfayoumi, second from right, father of six-year-old Palestinian boy Wadee Alfayoumi, leaves Will County Courthouse with others where Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged with and on trial in the fatal stabbing of the boy and the wounding of his mother Hanan Shaheen, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025, in Joliet, Ill. (AP)
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Updated 26 February 2025
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Mother of Palestinian American boy slain in suburban Chicago hate crime testifies at trial

Mother of Palestinian American boy slain in suburban Chicago hate crime testifies at trial
  • Authorities said the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel

JOLIET, Illinois: A suburban Chicago landlord took a knife from a belt holder and attacked a Palestinian American woman before fatally stabbing her young son 26 times, prosecutors alleged Tuesday during opening statements in the trial for a 2023 murder and hate crime.
Joseph Czuba, 73, is charged in the death of six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of Hanan Shaheen on Oct. 14, 2023. Authorities said the family was targeted because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors they’d hear an emotional 911 call, detailed witness testimony, along with police footage and explicit crime scene photos as he described each of the stab wounds to the boy’s body.




Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP)

“He could not escape,” Fitzgerald said facing jurors. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”
Czuba has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and other charges. He wore a suit and tie to court, his greying hair falling past his shoulders. He did not speak as he watched the proceedings.
Will County Public Defender Kylie Blatti urged jurors to consider each piece of evidence carefully because key parts were missing.
“Go beyond the emotions to carefully examine the evidence,” Blatti said during opening statements. “It is easy to get lost in the horror of those images.”
The family had been renting two rooms from Czuba and his wife, who also lived at the home where the murder happened in suburban Plainfield, nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Chicago.
Shaheen was the first witness and recounted the events leading up to the attack. She said they had not previously had any issues in the two years they had rented from the Czubas. They shared a kitchen and living room with the Czubas in the home.
After the start of the war Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. She urged him to “Pray for peace.” Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.
“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,” said Shaheen, who mainly testified in English but had an Arabic translator on standby in her primary language. She occasionally turned to the translator for clarification on questions or to translate for her.
After the attack, Shaheen said was scared and locked herself in the bathroom, noting blood all over her body and the room. She called 911 when she heard her son screaming in another room.
“The landlord is killing me and my baby!” she screamed to the dispatcher multiple times, according to a recording of the call played in court. “He’s killing my baby in other room!”
Yelling could be heard on the background. As the roughly 15-minute recording played in court, Shaheen put her head down, clutching a tissue paper in her hand.
The boy — whose name was initially spelled Wadea Al-Fayoume by authorities — was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.
The attack on the family in Plainfield renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area’s large and established Palestinian community. The proceedings also come amid rising hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the US since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.
Hundreds attended the boy’s janazah, or funeral service, where the boy was remembered as kind and into sports and Legos.
Separately, the father of the boy, who is divorced from Shaheen and did not live at the home, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. He attended the court proceedings Tuesday along with an uncle.
Shaheen has also retained prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who said she would not talk to reporters during the trial, which is expected to last about a week.
“Hanan Shaheen continues the unimaginable fight for justice for Wadee,” he said in a statement. “We have confidence in the prosecution’s efforts to earn justice for Wadee and Hanan.”

 


UK and Ukraine agree to deepen ties as Zelensky meets Starmer

UK and Ukraine agree to deepen ties as Zelensky meets Starmer
Updated 23 June 2025
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UK and Ukraine agree to deepen ties as Zelensky meets Starmer

UK and Ukraine agree to deepen ties as Zelensky meets Starmer
  • Zelensky met with Starmer at his Downing Street home, after earlier visiting King Charles III at Windsor Castle
  • The trip comes on the eve of a NATO summit in The Hague, which Zelensky is due to attend

LONDON: Seeking to shore up support more than three years into Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a surprise visit to London on Monday, cementing a military co-production deal.
Zelensky met with Starmer at his Downing Street home, after earlier visiting King Charles III at Windsor Castle.
The trip comes on the eve of a NATO summit in The Hague, which Zelensky is due to attend.
Addressing Ukrainian military personnel undergoing training in the UK, Starmer said the pair had had “an excellent bilateral meeting” and agreed on an “industrial military co-production agreement,” which he called “a massive step forward in the contribution that we can continue to make.”
Zelensky, speaking beside Starmer, insisted the deal “will be very strong and will transform both nations,” although no details were released.
After the meeting, Starmer said it was “really a privilege, a pleasure” to welcome Zelensky, calling him “a regular now at Downing Street.”
Starmer told the Ukrainian troops it was “really humbling” to see their “level of professionalism, commitment and bravery.”
More than 50,000 troops have now been trained as part of the international partnership.
Zelensky said the scheme had helped “strengthen our army” and enabled Ukraine to “survive and fight.”
The UK has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since Russia invaded in early 2022, levelling rounds of sanctions against Moscow and supplying multiple packages of military aid.
Starmer promised the support would continue “for the rest of the conflict” and help put Ukraine in “the strongest possible position” to negotiate a ceasefire.
Zelensky said his country was “very thankful to the UK... for such big support of Ukraine from the very beginning of this war.”
The Ukrainian leader earlier traveled to Windsor Castle, where he “visited The King... and remained to luncheon,” Buckingham Palace said.
Zelensky is expected at the NATO summit in The Hague on Tuesday and Wednesday, where Ukraine’s allies will work “to ensure that Ukraine is in the best possible position as we go into the next stage of this conflict,” according to Starmer.
NATO allies are poised to take a “quantum leap” by hiking defense spending to counter the threat of Russia, Secretary General Mark Rutte said on the eve of the two-day summit.
The alliance’s 32 members will pledge to boost defense expenditure to five percent of gross domestic product, a key demand of President Donald Trump, who has long grumbled that the US pays too much for NATO.
NATO’s members have thrashed out a compromise deal to dedicate at least 3.5 percent of GDP to core military needs by 2035, and 1.5 percent to broader security-related items like cyber-security and infrastructure.
“The defense investment plan that allies will agree in The Hague introduces a new baseline, five percent of GDP to be invested in defense,” Rutte told reporters at a pre-summit news conference.
“This is a quantum leap that is ambitious, historic and fundamental to securing our future.”


Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains
Updated 23 June 2025
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Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains
  • Ex-PM Sheikh Hasina’s government was accused of widespread human rights abuses
  • That includes extrajudicial killing of political opponents, abduction and disappearances

DHAKA: A Bangladesh government-appointed commission investigating hundreds of disappearances by the security forces under ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Monday warned that the same “culture of impunity” continues.

The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses.

That includes the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of political opponents and the unlawful abduction and disappearance of hundreds more.

The commission was established by interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is facing intense political pressure as parties jostle for power ahead of elections expected early next year.

Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and the army retains a powerful role.

“Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of wrongdoing, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that condoned, normalized, and often rewarded such crimes,” the commission said, in a section of a report released by the interim government on Monday.

“Alarmingly, this culture of impunity continues even after the regime change on August 5, 2024.”

The commission has verified more than 250 cases of enforced disappearances spanning the 15 years that Hasina’s Awami League was in power.

Commission chief Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said earlier this month that responsibility lay with individual officers, who were “involved in conducting enforced disappearances,” but not the armed forces as an institution.

Earlier this month, a joint statement by rights groups — including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — called on the security forces to “fully cooperate with the commission by guaranteeing unfettered and ongoing access to all detention centers... and providing free access to records regarding those seized or detained.”

Hasina,77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.

She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.


US citizens in Qatar told to ‘shelter in place’ as Iran mulls reprisals

US citizens in Qatar told to ‘shelter in place’ as Iran mulls reprisals
Updated 23 June 2025
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US citizens in Qatar told to ‘shelter in place’ as Iran mulls reprisals

US citizens in Qatar told to ‘shelter in place’ as Iran mulls reprisals
  • Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said warnings by foreign embassies ‘do not necessarily reflect the existence of specific or credible threats’

DOHA: The United States embassy in Qatar advised Americans there to “shelter in place” Monday, with other Western embassies echoing the warning after Tehran threatened to retaliate for US strikes on its nuclear sites.
Qatar, which lies 190 kilometers (120 miles) south of Iran across the Gulf, is home to the US’s largest military base in the region, Al-Udeid.
“Out of an abundance of caution we recommend American citizens shelter in place until further notice,” the US embassy said on its website.
Britain and Canada later cited the US security alert in their own recommendations to nationals.

“Following a US security alert for US nationals in Qatar, out of an abundance of caution, we recommend that British nationals in Qatar shelter in place until further notice,” the UK Foreign Office said on Monday.
Iran’s armed forces threatened on Monday to inflict “serious, unpredictable consequences” on the US after its heavy strikes on three nuclear sites.
In Bahrain, a close neighbor of Qatar that hosts the US Fifth Fleet, the American embassy “temporarily shifted a portion of its employees to local telework,” it said on X.
Bahraini authorities had already told most government employees to work from home until further notice, citing “regional circumstances.”
Following the US warning in Doha, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said warnings by foreign embassies “do not necessarily reflect the existence of specific or credible threats.”
“We would like to reassure the public that the security situation in the state remains stable,” he wrote on X. “Qatar continues to exert intensive diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions in the region.”
On Sunday, the US State Department advised Americans worldwide to “exercise increased caution” because of the war between Israel and Iran.
After Israel’s first strikes on Iran on June 13, the US embassy in Qatar had told its staff and other Americans to “exercise increased caution” and “limit non-essential travel to Al Udeid Air Base.”


Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains
Updated 23 June 2025
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Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains
  • The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses

DHAKA: A Bangladesh government-appointed commission investigating hundreds of disappearances by the security forces under ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Monday warned that the same “culture of impunity” continues.
The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses.
That includes the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of political opponents and the unlawful abduction and disappearance of hundreds more.
The commission was established by interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is facing intense political pressure as parties jostle for power ahead of elections expected early next year.
Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and the army retains a powerful role.
“Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of wrongdoing, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that condoned, normalized, and often rewarded such crimes,” the commission said, in a section of a report released by the interim government on Monday.
“Alarmingly, this culture of impunity continues even after the regime change on August 5, 2024.”
The commission has verified more than 250 cases of enforced disappearances spanning the 15 years that Hasina’s Awami League was in power.
Commission chief Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said earlier this month that responsibility lay with individual officers, who were “involved in conducting enforced disappearances,” but not the armed forces as an institution.
Earlier this month, a joint statement by rights groups — including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — called on the security forces to “fully cooperate with the commission by guaranteeing unfettered and ongoing access to all detention centers... and providing free access to records regarding those seized or detained.”
Hasina,77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.
She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.


Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice
Updated 23 June 2025
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Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice
  • Some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating

VENICE: Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week’s celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez.
The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed “the wedding of the century.”
But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating.
Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group “Everyone hates Elon” (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St. Mark’s Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.
“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals.
Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million).
Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St. Mark’s bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism.
The exact dates and locations of the glitzy nuptials are being kept confidential, but celebrations are expected to play out over three days, most likely around June 26-28.