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Beheaded Wife Feared Abusive Husband's Wrath

Colleagues say woman tried to salvage struggling TV venture

By Wesley Oliver, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 22, 2009 4:16 PM CST

(Newser) – Now that authorities have charged Muzzammil Hassan with beheading his wife Aasiya, reports are surfacing that he had beaten her for years, the Buffalo News reports. Local police knew of the violence, but didn't act because Aasiya refused to press charges. “She was afraid she would cause Bridges TV to fail,” said a colleague, of the Muslim lifestyle channel the couple had started.

Aasiya regularly phoned police, alleging beatings and imprisonment. She also confided in friends, but wouldn't reach out to the local Muslim community, which at times pressures husbands to reform. As for Muzzammil, he had been divorced twice and reportedly took anti-depressants. When Aasiya filed for divorce and kicked him out earlier this month, "he saw it as losing everything... going back to square one, and he snapped," a friend said.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

[Quotes (3)]

In this photo made available by Bridges TV, Muzzammil Hassan, and his wife Aasiya Hassan of Orchard Park, NY, near Buffalo, pose in an undated photo. (AP Photo/Bridges TV)

Flowers are placed outside the door to the Bridges TV station in Orchard Park, N.Y. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan, a Pakistani-American television executive accused of decapitating... (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

Muzzammil Hassan is confined to the backseat of an Erie County Sheriff's patrol vehicle entering the garage of the Orchard Park Courthouse in Orchard Park, N.Y. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Don Heupel)

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Television executive Muzzammil Hassan is accused of beheading his estranged wife. CNN's Gary Tuchman reports. (CNN Video)

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I think of Aasiya as a martyr. She has given her life to protect the image of American Muslims. And as an American Muslim community, we owe it to her not to let this happen again. - Faizan Haq, co-founder, Bridges TV

Aasiya was a passionate person, very ethical, with dreams that she wanted to make things happen. - Faizan Haq, co-founder, Bridges TV

We had an abuser who thought his wife had no right to leave him. And if she was going to leave him, he was going to punish her with death. - Laura Grube, coordinator, Child & Family Services Haven House

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Beheaded Wife Feared Abusive Husband's Wrath