Syed Farook and Tashfreen Malik were Muslims first and killers second
What part did religion play in Syed Farook and Tashfreen Malik’s joint decision to murder 14 people at a Christmas party in California?
No report of the horror says the husband and wife killer screaming ‘Aluu Wakbar’ as they slaughtered their victims, nor made any obvious reference to Islam.
The New York Post makes the killers’ religion a key factor in the massacre, changing its front-page “shooters” to “Muslim Killers”.
The Mirror says Farook was a “devout Muslim”. Was his wife? We’re not told. The paper makes no other mention of religion in the article.
But it does position the crime in the context of the wider war on terror.
The Daily Mail makes Islam central to the crime. The report says the couple were “radicalised Muslims”. Again we hear that Farook was a “devout Muslim” who met his Pakistani wife online. The Mail says he had been on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Express says the couple were on a “jihadi mission”. The killers are called a “jihadi couple”. But at no point in the article is that a proven fact. The paper is only source of the phrase ‘jihadi couple’.
The Sun says the gunman was “crazed”. A neighbour says she “believed” she had seen a black ISIS flag in the couple’s garage.”I’ve a feeling it was an IS flag,” says the source. This becomes the headline “KILLERS’ I.S. FLAG”.
Meanwhile detective are investigating…
Posted: 4th, December 2015 | In: Reviews Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink