NY Muslim Man Goes on Trial for Killing His Wife; Defense Atty. Says Wife-Beating Is a Muslim Right

A defense attorney in New York City used a novel defense to explain why her client allegedly murdered his 66-year-old wife. Noor Hussein -- a 75-year-old Pakistani immigrant -- was apparently so enraged when his wife, Nazar Hussein, prepared lentils for supper instead of his favorite meal of goat meat that he beat her to death in their Brooklyn apartment, the Spero Forum website reports today (May 22, 2014).

Counsel Julie Clark readily admitted in court yesterday that the Muslim man beat his wife to death, but explained that this was all right by claiming that this is customary in his home country of Pakistan. "He comes from a culture where he thinks this is appropriate conduct, where he can hit his wife," Clark said in a statement to the Brooklyn Supreme Court. "He culturally believed he had the right to hit his wife and discipline his wife."

Prosecutor Sabeeha Madni said Hussein "Brutally attacked his wife as she lay in her bed" and left deep wounds on her upper body and head, causing a brain hemorrhage. Hussein beat his wife with a stick that had been used normally to stir laundry in a washtub.

Prosecutor Madni added that witnesses will testify that Hussein had meted out beatings for his wife in the past. "They have told us about years of abuse they witnessed." The trial continues today.