16 Oct, 2015
White supremacist allegedly kills Iranian-American student falsely accused of being a “terrorist”
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–October 13, 2015 – A coalition of Iranian-American organizations, including Iranian Alliances Across Borders, Iranian American Bar Association, the National Iranian American Council, PARS Equality Center, and the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, released the following statement calling for a full investigation into the brutal murder of 22-year-old Iranian-American student Shayan Mazroei allegedly by avowed white supremacist, Craig Tanber, 37, last month. Mazroei was stabbed to death after Tanber’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Thornburg, accused him of being a terrorist.
“A 22-year-old Iranian-American, Shayan Mazroei, was stabbed to death by a member of an Orange County white supremacist gang, ‘PEN1,’ over the Labor Day holiday weekend last month. Shayan was a student at Saddleback College, where he was studying mechanical engineering, and had just opened his own business. He was also his parent’s only child.
(Photo: Business Wire)
“According to eyewitness accounts, the sequence of events leading to the fatal stabbing of Shayan began when Craig Tanber’s girlfriend, Elizabeth Thornburg, noticed a tattoo on Shayan’s forearm, which read ‘love’ in Farsi script. Thornburg associated Shayan’s tattoo to the Arabic script often used in ISIS videos and imagery, and called him a ‘terrorist. Several witnesses recall Thornburg instigating a confrontation between Tanber and Shayan, and heard her yelling racial insults at him. Witnesses also saw Thornburg spitting in Shayan’s face before he was allegedly stabbed to death by Tanber. Yet, Elizabeth Thornburg remains free and has not been charged in connection with the murder of Shayan Mazroei.
“At the time of the murder, 37-year-old Craig Tanber was out on parole stemming from the 2004 killing of Cory Lamons in Huntington Beach. Tanber pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter, dissuading a witness by force, street terrorism, and assault with a deadly weapon. The sentence was enhanced after he admitted that the killing was carried out to benefit a street gang. Tanber also has prior convictions for a 2001 residential burglary.
“Shayan’s murder was very likely motivated by islamophobia and a fundamental misunderstanding of his tattoo. Shayan was clearly targeted and killed because of his race, religion, and national origin. Such senseless acts of hate have no room in the United States of America. We call on Deputy District Attorney Larry Yellin to immediately open an investigation into Thornburg’s involvement in Shayan’s murder and bring the appropriate criminal charges against her. In addition, we urge the Department of Justice to further investigate this senseless killing and highly recommend charging both Tanber and Thornburg under federal hate crime statutes.”
For more information visit www.JusticeForShayan.com
Contacts
PARS Equality Center
Nazy Fahimi, Esq., 650-321-6400
nfahimi@parsequalitycenter.org
or
Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans
Morad Ghorban, 202-828-8370
morad@paaia.org
or
National Iranian American Council
Elham Khatami, 202-386-6325
ekhatami@niacouncil.org
or
Iranian Alliances Across Borders
Mana Kharrazi, 404-384-8669
mana@iranianalliances.org
or
Iranian American Bar Association
Leila Mansouri, 703-283-1962
leila@iaba.us
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