Latest / Crime Night / Envy, Witchcraft, and the Imam Killer

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Envy, Witchcraft, and the Imam Killer · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The sun was dropping low over the agricultural fields of
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: El Hakim Village. It's mid twenty twenty three, and the air,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: which should have been filled with the sounds of evening life,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: was just quiet, suffocatingly quiet.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: And that quiet that was the sound of sheer terror.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: This is a deep dive into a case that just
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: completely ripped apart the fabric of a family, of a community.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: We've gone through the entire timeline, and what we're really
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: trying to understand is how something like deep seated envy
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: can well commutate into something so lethal.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: And it all centers on a three year old boy
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: named Malik. By all accounts, he was just this beautiful,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: adored little kid, the kind of child who was the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: absolute light of his parents' life.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: And that light just blinked out. It was two point
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: zero zero pm. Molick's mother, Zara, she gets a call
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: at her tailoring shop.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Right, it's her older daughter and she's frantic. Malick is missing.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Now your first thought is a parent, what is it?
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Oh, it's always it's reassurance. He's three, he's probably just
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: wandered off. He's taking a nap at a neighbor's house.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: You're worried, but you're not thinking the worst.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Not yet, but that feeling it changed so fast. By
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: four zero pm, just two hours later, the whole mood
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: of the village has shifted. The daughter calls again, and
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: this time you can hear the real fear in her voice.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: The entire community is out, they're searching everywhere, and Mallik
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: he's just gone vanished.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: So Zara rushes home. Sayid, the father, he's called back
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: from his job at the factory. You have to picture
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the scene, the chaos, the absolute desperation building with every
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: single minute that ticks by.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: And this is where the story takes a truly, truly
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: dark turn, because standing right there with say the grieving father,
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: supposedly helping with the search.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: His own younger brother, Mohammed, Mallick's.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Uncle, and no one knew, No one knew that this
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: show of family support was Yeah, well it was the
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: deepest deception you can possibly imagine.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: An act of malice, that cold, that calculated. It doesn't
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: just appear out of nowhere. We have to go back,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: We have to unpack the years of resentment that led
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: to this one moment.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Let's do that. So Sayid and Zara, what was their.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Life, like, they'd built a really stable life together. So
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: he came from a simple background, and this is important.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: He was the only one of his brothers who hadn't
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: finished his education.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: But he was the successful one, wasn't he by all accounts.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, they had four kids, a nice home they'd built themselves.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Zara had her own tailoring business. He had a steady
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: factory job. Their happiness, their stability, it was visible.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: And that visibility became a problem.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: It became toxic, especially for his family. The success of
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: the quote unquote uneducated brother. It created this this deep
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: hidden envy.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: And it was all aimed right at them, specifically at Mohammed,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: his younger brother.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, and here's the paradox. Mohammed was an Azar graduate,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: highly educated, highly respected. He was the village shaikh, the imam,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: he led the prayers.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: A pillar of the community.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: The pillar of the community. But behind that facade, he
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: was watching his blue collar brother thrive while his own
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: life was, let's just say, struggling.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So it's this clash of status, the religious authority versus
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the real world success.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: Exactly, and it festered into what the reports call an
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: unnatural hatred. He became obsessed with his brother's life, but
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: he couldn't show it openly right it would ruin his reputation.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So he had to find another target, a scapegoat, and.
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: He found one in Zara Mallick's mother. The family feud
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: really ignited over Mohammed's own troubled marriage.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, so what happened there?
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: He'd married his wife mostly for her income. When they
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: started having serious problems, his wife went to Zara for advice,
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: you know, woman to woman.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: And Mohammad saw that as interference.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: He sought his Zara, trying to create fitness strife, discord.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But it went so much further than that. It twisted
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: into something much much darker.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: This is where the witchcraft accusations come in.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Yes, the family, led by Mohammad became convinced that Zara
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: was using Sahar skells against him.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Which is an incredibly serious accusation. In that context, it's
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: not just a casual superstition, not at all.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: It can lead to complete social ruin. And their proof
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: was that he and his wife had trouble conceiving at first.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Even though they later had twins through medical health.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: The facts didn't matter. The delusion was already set, and
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the consequence was brutal. The entire family turned on Zara.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: They banned her from the family home.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Wow. So siit is stuck in.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: The middle of this in an absolutely impossible position. He's
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: trying to respect his parents and his siblings, but also
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: protect his own wife and children. So he tried to
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: keep the two worlds separate.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: But the hatreds still spilled.
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Over it did. There were incidents before the murder. Witnesses
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: saw Mohammed, you know, being violent toward the other children,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: pulling his middle son's hair, treating Molik badly, and.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: People just tolerated that. From the villagy mom it.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: Seems they did. I think it shows how powerful that
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: shared delusion about Zara really was. They just saw it
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: as him having a temper, maybe not a sign.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Of what was to come until his own life started
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: to completely.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Fall apart, right and for him this was just proof
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: that the sahar was working. Right before the murder, he
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: was facing total humiliation. What was going on well, professionally,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: he was about to be fired. He actually had to asked,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: said the brother he hated for a job at the factory,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: and said, amazingly said yes.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: And his marriage it was over.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: His fights with his wife had become physical and she
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: was demanding a divorce. So his professional life, his personal
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: life all collapsing at.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Once, and he couldn't blame himself. He had to blame
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: her Zara.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: He doubled down on the delusion. It was the only
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: way he could process his own failure. And that right
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: there is how this personal crisis became a plan for revenge.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: To hurt his brother in the worst way imaginable.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: By taking the most precious thing he had.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: So back to the day of the disappearance. The search
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: isn't working and the Paris decide they have to go
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: to the police.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: And this is maybe the most calculated move Mohammad makes
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: all day. He steps in the educated brother and he
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: strongly advises them not to file a report.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Why what was his reasoning?
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: He used the law against them. He told him, look,
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: if you go to the police, they're get to charge
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: you with negligence. They'll say you let a three year
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: old wander off, and they might even imprison you.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: He was trying to block the investigation before it even.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Started, absolutely, but Zara and said they ignored him. They
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: went to the police station anyway.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: And that decision changed everything.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: It did. The police took it very seriously right away
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: because of Malik's age, there was no waiting period. They
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: started investigating immediately.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: When they asked said and Zara if they had any enemies,
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: they said no, yeah, they.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Couldn't think of anyone. They just couldn't imagine this kind
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: of malice was coming from inside their own family.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: But the truth started to come out.
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: Almost right away. A neighbor came forward told the police
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: they saw Malik going into uncle Muhammad's house earlier.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: That day, and Muhammad's reaction a total lie.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: He denied it completely, said he hadn't seen Malek in
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: three days, and oh he had chocolate and biscuits waiting
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: for him when he came home. Just sickening performance.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: But then came the critical piece of the puzzle.
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  Speaker 2: The most heartbreaking piece, Sayid's young daughter, Molik's own sister.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: She spoke to an officer in private and she just
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: said it, I suspect my uncle Muhammad.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: From a child. The police must have been stunned.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: They were that a niece would accuse the one person
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: who should be her protector. It was shocking. But now
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: they had two things pointing directly at him. The neighbor's
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: eyewitness account and the sister's intuition, the investigation immediately zeroed in,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and that.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Night, the contrast between his public life and his secret
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: crime was just it's beyond belief.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: It's pure cinematic horror. It's time for the Issha prayer,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: the night prayer, and who is leading the entire congregation.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Mohammed, the mom, the prime suspect.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: He stands before the whole village and he leads them
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: in this solemn prayer, begging God to return little Molik
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: safely to his family, to his uncle. Knowing what he'd done,
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: knowing exactly what he'd done, ends and the second it does,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: the police move in and arrest him.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: And the evidence was just undeniable at.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: That point, overwhelming. They found surveillance footage at one thirty pm.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: There's Mohammed talking to Molik leading into his house. Thirty
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: minutes later, he's seen leaving on his motorcycle. He looks
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: nervous and he's carrying a plastic basin inside it, a
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: sack and a garbage bag. Police tracked his route and
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: found a barber who saw him. He said even helped
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Mohammed secure the sack because it was about to fall
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: off the bike and the barber he knew.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: He testified that when he grabbed the sack to steady it,
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: he felt, he felt what he was sure was the
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: head of a small child inside.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Faced with all of that, he had to confess.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: He collapsed. He confessed to everything and the motive.
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: What did he say?
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: It was exactly what we suspected. He said he did
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: it to burn his father's heart. It was all about
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: revenge against Sayid for his own failures.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: He admitted to to strangling him.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: For six minutes, a three year old boy. The details
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: of what he did afterwards are just they're horrific. He
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: put the body in bags, weighed it down with the stone,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: and submerged it in an irrigation canal.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: And just when you think it can't get any worse,
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: the family's reaction.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: It's another layer of betrayal. Instead of supporting Sayid and
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Zara Mohammad's family, Sayid's own parents and siblings, they immediately
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: tried to save the killer.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: Oh what did they do? They tried to get the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: charge changed to accidental killing to spare them the death penalty.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: They were protecting the murderer, not grieving with the father.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: It's just a complete moral collapse, completely, And they didn't
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: stop during the morning period. They created fake online accounts
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: to slander Zara, to attack her character, to try and
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: pressure them into giving up their right to seek justice.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: They never stopped blaming the mother.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: So the trial took a long time.
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: It stretched on for a year into twenty twenty five.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: The family fought it the whole way, but in the end,
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: in the end, the evidence was just too strong. The
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: final judgment came down and Mohammed was executed for his crime.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: And even then did he ever take responsibility.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: Never? This is maybe the most chilling part. Right up
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: to the very end, he maintained his delusion. He insisted
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: that Zara Sahar was the real reason for everything, for
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: his failed life, for the murder. It was never his fault.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: So what does a story like this even mean? What
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: do we take from it?
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: I think it shows the terrifying depth of hatred that
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: can hide behind a mask of piety of family. It's
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: a blueprint for what happens when someone refuses to take
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: responsibility for their own life and instead projects all their
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: failure onto some dark external force.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: It's a chilling reminder that the greatest danger can sometimes
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: come from the people who are supposed to protect you.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: And that brings up a really important question for all
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: of you listening. If personal failure is always blamed on
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: something external, on magic, on fate, on a scapegoat, what
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: does that do to a society's sense of accountability. What
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: does it mean for our ability to think critically and
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: ultimately to protect the innocent