The New York Times
Your father had a theory about his death. Then came the prison.
NEW YORK – When Ola Salem’s body was discovered in a park on Staten Island in October 2019, her friends and relatives were looking for an explanation. Salem, 25, was known as a dedicated advocate at the domestic violence shelter for Muslim women and children where she volunteered and the local media’s suspicions turned to her husband, with whom the police said she had a tumultuous relationship. . Her father offered another theory: Kabary Salem told The New York Times that her daughter had shared stories of being followed by someone on the highway. Sign up for the New York Times newsletter The Morning, but authorities now say the complaint was a lie intended to deceive investigators, and it was Kabary Salem who killed her daughter, dragged her body to Bloomingdale Park and covered it with branches. Kabary Salem, 52, appeared virtually in court last week to face a seven-count charge, including murder, strangulation and concealment of a human corpse. He pleaded not guilty, court records show. A lawyer for Kabary Salem was not available for comment last week. Officials said that despite Kabary Salem’s statements to reporters, he was considered suspicious of his daughter’s death. “Throughout this tragic case, we never lost hope that the alleged killer would be arrested and charged,” said Michael E. McMahon, the district attorney for Staten Island, in a statement. “We will continue to work tirelessly to hold this defendant accountable.” The charges came after a year-long investigation into a murder that perplexed many who knew Ola Salem. His friends said they were shaken by the news of his father’s arrest. On October 23, 2019, Ola Salem was in Pennsylvania with her father, a former professional boxer who had competed in the Olympics, officials said. Later that night or early the next day, Kabary Salem strangled her daughter, according to the prosecution. Authorities said he drove to Staten Island, dragged her body to Bloomingdale Park in the Prince’s Bay neighborhood and covered it with branches and leaves. Subsequently, they said, he traveled back to Pennsylvania and later fled the country. The key to the investigation was the discovery this year that Kabary Salem had rented an Avis car on October 22, said a policeman familiar with the case. , Kabary Salem told investigators that he had driven his daughter home to New York in the family car. Investigators also found her daughter’s phone number in the family car, the officer said, and Kabary Salem told them that she had forgotten him when he left her. In reality, the officer said, detectives found that Kabary Salem used the rental car to travel a lot. Staten Island, including a brief stop at the park near where her daughter’s body was found. He was arrested in Kuwait in December with the help of the State Department and Interpol and quarantined before being extradited back to New York. Prosecutors did not provide a potential reason for the murder. But relations between Ola Salem and close relatives seemed to have been strained for some time. At the time of her death, Ola Salem’s family had an active order of protection against her, according to the law enforcement officer, who was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. Kabary Salem, who had also worked as a pilot, was a boxer on the Olympic team in Egypt in 1992 and 1996. He was known as “The Egyptian Magician” and had a mixed reputation among fans and other fighters, gaining notoriety in 1999 when an opponent whoever he had repeatedly headbutt during a game lost consciousness and died after brain surgery. He retired from the sport six years later. On an extinct Instagram account, Kabary Salem posted a photo of him and his daughter in March with the caption: “I miss you and I love you, tear up my love.” After Ola Salem’s death, Kabary Salem was quoted in a New York Times story as saying that her daughter “always said someone would follow her” when she was driving and that he hoped for clarity. “I want to know what happened to her, what is the reason for that – but nobody tells me – I’m just waiting,” he said at the time. He is due to appear in court on February 5. Members of Ola Salem’s family declined to comment further when contacted Wednesday, saying they were still processing the news. As a teenager, Ola Salem, who grew up on Coney Island, was an active member of the Youth Center of the American Muslim Society in South Brooklyn. Friends said she enjoyed boxing like her father, led religious discussions at Kingsborough Community College on weekends, and was known for her caring spirit and protective attitude at Asiyah Women’s Center, a shelter for domestic violence where she volunteered for night shifts. – founder of the shelter and friend for over a decade, said her stomach turns when she finds reminders of Ola Salem’s death. She added that she hopes that “justice is done”. Darwish remembered the last days of Ramadan, when she and Ola Salem danced and sang, exchanged laughter and imagined their lives in the future. When opening the shelter in Brooklyn, Darwish said she asked Ola Salem for help, knowing that her friend had a “way of making people feel safe” and comfortable. “People would be very traumatized when they came to us, and she just had a relaxed spirit and a calming presence,” said Darwish. “She just made people laugh at something right away, even though they were having the worst days of their lives.” Ola Salem was known for being frank. When she was 17, she made headlines after a visit to Playland Park, an amusement park in Rye, New York, on a youth trip to mark the end of Ramadan. When Ola Salem was informed by officials that she could not join her younger sister on a tour because of her hijab, she asked to speak to management. The problem grew and a little confusion started. “I said, ‘It’s not my helmet. It’s my religion,'” Ola Salem told the Times. For Darwish, the murder of his friend – who fiercely defended other women – remains a devastating loss. “There are women who were. Experiencing domestic violence and leaving situations where they could have been murdered. She was the reason why they felt safe enough to leave,” she said. “I would like our community to do more to protect it the way it protected them.” This article was originally published in The New York Times. (C) 2020 The New York Times Company