Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesman for the Majlis (parliament) Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy[/caption]TEHRAN (FNA)- A prominent Iranian legislator underlined that the outrageous murder of three Muslim students in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was a good test for the western countries and media as well as the international community who claim to be supporters of human rights and freedom of speech.
"The murder of the three Muslims in the US is considered a test for the westerners," Rapporteur of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Seyed Hossein Naqavi Hosseini told FNA on Saturday.
He pointed to the West's Islamophobia scenario in recent, and said, "The West is trying to portray a violent image of Islam, but it is now facing the phenomenon of western extremists' attacks and murder of the Muslims."
Naqavi Hosseini reiterated that all the West's Islamophobia scenarios have now come to face a deadlock, adding that the western media outlets have boycotted the killing of the three Muslim students in the US in order to prevent the failure of the West's other plots.
A middle-aged white man shot dead Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, his wife Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and her sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, near the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus on Tuesday afternoon.
Rakiv Mazumder, a participant, said that he heard about the shootings through social media. I am here to pray with my fellow Muslims and to honor the three students that tragically died.
Local police have launched a homicide investigation focusing on a dispute over a parking space, but the families of the victims have rejected that narrative, describing the killing an execution-style murder and a hate crime.
Families of the three, who were shot in the head by Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, said they were executed for their religion, Islam, rather than being simply targeted by a criminal.
The killings of three young Muslims, called gems of their communities, have caused outrage among Muslims all over the world. Many claim the crimes would have gained more attention if the attacker had been a Muslim and the victims were non-Muslim whites.
Since the murders US media and law enforcement have been criticized for not treating the shootings as a hate crime. A hate crime indictment would carry a more severe penalty for the murders.
Nigah Mughal said that she has received Islamophobic comments she usually ignores. But when an individual crosses the line, she said justice should be served.
After this incident, I think, you know always there is something in the back of your head, I could be targeted.
The FBI has launched its own probe into the killing of the three students. Representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, welcomed the FBI announcement.
More than 100 religious and community groups, including predominantly Muslim groups, have on the Obama administration to open a hate crime inquiry and publicly denounce the shootings. The letter is signed by the groups and is addressed to Eric Holder, the US attorney general.
By Fars News Agency
