Taxi driver died as a martyr for family, mourners told

[General Duke]

Taxi driver died as a martyr for family, mourners told

 

 

Hundreds of cabbies spill onto sidewalk outside mosque to pay respects

 

Vernon Clement Jones

The Edmonton Journal

 

April 16, 2005

 

CREDIT: Shaughn Butts, The Journal

A DAY OF SORROW AND ANGER: Slain Edmonton taxi driver Hassan Yussuf's son Sahid, 9, is comforted as he weeps in front of his father's casket.

 

 

EDMONTON - Black, brown and white shoes sat in every corner of the Al-Rashid Mosque Friday -- removed by those inside.

 

The colours were also those of the mourners for Hassan Yussuf, a taxi driver killed while working to feed the wife and children he leaves behind.

 

Yussuf died a martyr to that cause, the leader of the mosque told the hundreds of mourners.

 

"We believe that he was killed in a state of grace," Imam Tamer Ali said, first in Arabic and then in English. "When a brother has died as a martyr for his family, we have to be proud of him."

 

Inside Edmonton's largest mosque, Yussuf's seven children sat close to the green casket in which their father lay.

 

In 1992, the 41-year-old man left Somalia with two science degrees, but would work as a cabbie in Canada to support his family.

 

While hundreds filled the mosque, hundreds more stood outside, unable to get in. Collective chants of "Amen" hummed in the air as Yussuf's four daughters sat with their mother, Farha. She wept quietly.

 

His three boys sat across the aisle with the men of the mosque -- the separation dictated by Islam custom.

 

As the ceremony of equal parts anger and sorrow took place, the first of three people accused of killing Yussuf-- Karl Blair Strongman, 25, of Ponoka -- made his first appearance in an Edmonton court Friday.

 

Strongman, along with Ronald Adrian Crane, 27, and Deidre Renee Baptiste, 23, both of Ponoka, are accused of stabbing the 41-year-old cab driver repeatedly before stuffing him into the trunk of his cab.

 

All three have been charged with first-degree murder, unlawful confinement and robbery.

 

The car sat in a parking lot at the rear of a north-end liquor store for five days before police found Yussuf's body in the trunk on Tuesday night.

 

Ali led the crowd in asking God to show Yussuf the mercy his killers withheld.

 

"May Allah bless his soul and accept him and give patience to his family," he said, before the start of the brief ceremony at 2:30 p.m.

 

By 2:40 p.m., pallbearers had carried the casket down the steps of the mosque and into a waiting hearse.

 

A cortege of cabs followed the black car on its slow drive to the cemetery.

 

"I came to show my respect to the family and to him -- nothing more and nothing less," said Sukhi Tahli, one of the drivers lining the steps who had failed to win a spot inside for the funeral of a man he'd never met.

 

Yussuf came to Edmonton nine months ago, leaving his family in Ottawa. He'd hoped to make enough money to relocate his wife and children in June.

 

"What can you say?" said Marek Masaryk, another taxi driver. "The guy went through the worst nightmare you can imagine and then they killed him. Personally, I think there should be more punishment for a crime."

 

Edmonton cabbies will take that message to City Hall on Sunday for a protest rally .

 

But the company Yussuf acted as a subcontractor for -- Yellow Cab -- must also answer questions, said Abdi Mohamad, another taxi driver. He cited reports that company officials waited five days before notifying police about Yussuf's disappearance.

 

On Thursday, a city police spokesman said the cabbie might have survived the attack had he received immediate medical attention.

 

Two representatives of the taxi firm sat with mourners Friday.

 

The funeral, in some small way, has comforted the grieving family, said Yussuf's nephew.

 

"It really is great -- it gives me a good motivation inside," Mohamed Hersi said.

 

vjones@thejournal.canwest.com

[General Duke]

Jihaad uu ugu Jirey Qoyskiisa ayuu Ku Dhintay marxuum (Hassan Mohammed Yussuf)" Sidaas waxaa yiri Imaamka Masjidka Edmonton

 

Edmonton Journal | April 16, 2005 | Tarjumadii SomaliTalk

 

 

Sahid oo 9-jir ah, oo hor taagan naxashkii uu ku jirey aabihiis Allah ha u naxariistee Marrxuum Xassan Yusuf

Sawirka: edmontonjournal

Edmonton: Maalinimadii Jimcada (April 15) ayaa meydkii marxuum Hassan Mohammed Yussuf (Allah ha u naxariistee) lageeyey Masjidka Al-Rashid ee magaalada Edmonton si halkaas salaatul Jinaazada loogu tukado looguna duceeyo Marxuumka.

 

Jariidada Edmonton Journal oo halkaas ka warbixineysey waxa ay tiri: masjidka ugu weyn Edmonton guduhiisa ayaa naxash cagaaran oo meydka marxuumku ku jirey waxaa ag fadhiyey toddoba carruur ah ee marxuumku dhalay. Masjidka ayaa dadkii qaadi waayey, intii uu masjidku ka buuxsameyna waxay istaageen bannaanka masjidka, dhammaantoodna marxuumka ayey u ducaynayeen.

 

Dadku markii ay u ducaynayeen marxuumka, afar gabdhood oo marxuumku dhalay waxay la fadhiyeen hooyadood, Farha.

 

Iimaamka Masjidka, Tamer Ali, oo khudbad akhriyey waxa uu dadkii masjidka yimid u sheegay in marxuumku ku dhintay Jihaad uu ugu jirey qoyskiisa. Waxana uu Imimaamku Allah ka baryeey in uu marxuumka u naxariisto.

 

Marxuum Xassan waxa uu Soomaaliya ka kayimid sannadkii 1992. Da'diisuna waxay ahayd 41-jir.

 

Markii Salaatul Jinaazadii lagu tukaday, kaddib qiyaastii 2:40 p.m ayaa naxashkii marxuumka laga soo saaray masjidka, waxaana loo qaaaday xabaalaha, waxaana meydka sii raacay xayn gawaarida taxiyada ah.

 

Wargeyska Edmonton Journal waxaa lagala xiriiri karaa: vjones@thejournal.canwest.com

 

 

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[Garyaqaan2]

Very sad walaahi cadiim :mad:

 

Ilaahoow unaxriiso una dambi dhaaf