Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Peaceful Religion: Dad charged in daughter's death

TORONTO - A Mississauga, Ont. man will be formally charged on Tuesday with murder in connection with the death of his 16-year-old daughter. The girl, Aqsa Parvez, was in critical condition on Monday after being strangled, apparently after a dispute with her family over her refusal to wear the hijab, the Islamic headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

However Peel Regional Police said Tuesday the girl died late Monday night.

Police arrested the victim's 57-year-old father, Muhammad Parvez on Monday morning after receiving a 911 call from a Mississauga home from a man saying he had killed his daughter. He is due to appear on Tuesday in a Brampton, Ont. court.

The victim's 26-year-old brother, Waqas Parvez, was also charged with obstructing police.

Friends of the teenager, a Grade 11 student at Applewood Heights high school, said Monday they were shocked by the attack on the outgoing, likeable girl, but said she had been threatened by her strictly religious family before.

Ebonie Mitchell, 16, a friend of the victim, said the conflict with her father over wearing Islamic dress came to a head at the beginning of this school year. "She just wanted to dress like we do," she said. "Last year, she wore like the Islamic stuff and everything, the hijab, and this year she's all western. She just wanted to look like everyone else."

Mitchell said her friend had left home once before, in September, for about two weeks. She returned home, but the fights with her family over what she wore just got worse.

The stricken girl's friends said the fights with her father got so bad that she had left the family home to live with friends about a week ago.

Neighbours said Monday as many as 11 people lived in the home, which was sealed off by crime scene tape and surrounded by police cars.

Neighbours said the family moved in just over a year ago.

© CanWest News Service 2007. http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=ba198688-98a6-4c46-91bc-5ca26cc5aca8&k=11154

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