Deah Barakat, Yusor Abu-Salha and Razan Abu-Salha.
Today marks one week since 23-year-old Yousef Abu-Salha's younger sisters — Yusor, 21, and Razan, 19 — were murdered by their neighbor. Yousef told The Electronic Intifada over the the phone from North Carolina that he has no doubt their murder was an anti-Muslim hate crime.
The women were executed along with Yusor's husband, 23-year-old Deah Barakat, in the newlywed couple's condominium.
All three were remarkable individuals devoted to helping the disenfranchised at home and refugees abroad. As their social media posts demonstrate, the plight of Syrian and Palestinian refugees were particularly near and dear to their hearts. In fact, Razan and Yusor were of Palestinian descent, which has been largely glossed over in the media coverage of their deaths.
Originally from the port city of Jaffa, the Abu-Salha family was driven out of historic Palestine by Zionist militias in 1948. Yousef's father was subsequently born in Jordan and raised in Kuwait. His mother, whose maiden name is al-Azzeh, was born in al-Bireh, a city in the occupied West Bank.
Yousef and Yusor, both born in Jordan, are dual Jordanian-American citizens. Their parents immigrated to the United States when they were little. The family moved to Virginia beach in 1993, where Razan was born. Soon afterwards, the Abu-Salhas moved to North Carolina, eventually settling down in Raleigh, where the children spent most of their lives.
After learning there had been a shooting, Yousef said his parents immediately suspected that Yusor and Deah, who weren't answering their phones, had been shot by the neighbor they had on so many occasions expressed fear of. The families rushed to the apartment complex for confirmation of their worst fears.
But for five grueling hours, police refused to tell them whether their loved ones were shot and if so, whether they were alive or dead.
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