Muhammad Altantawi Killed His Mother Because She Was Rejecting Traditional Islamic Practices

Five years after 35-year-old Nada Huranieh was murdered, her 19-year-old daughter delivered a tearful victim impact statement at the sentencing of the person who killed her, reported the The Oakland Press.

Aya Altantawi spoke about the immense trauma she lived with after losing her mother in such a horrific fashion, as well as the heartache she felt daily. After living with this case for five years, Aya said she didn't know what do with her life that it was over.

Sadly, Aya's words were directed towards her brother, 21-year-old Muhammad Altantawi. He had been found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder and was awaiting his fate. Despite the decision handed down by a jury of his peers, Altantawi maintained his innocence and expected he would be exonerated at some point. Where is Muhammad Altantawi now? Here's what we know.

In September 2022, Altantawi was sentenced to 35 to 60 years in prison and is currently incarcerated at Chippewa Correctional Facility in Kincheloe, Mich. At the time of his sentencing, Altantawi was serving as his own attorney and spent two hours "raising objections to words, phrases and sometimes entire paragraphs of his pre-sentencing investigation report," said The Oakland Press.

He believed these so-called mistakes could result in a harsher sentence.

Judge Martha Anderson clearly lost her patience during these long-winded diatribes. A few things Altantawi took issue with was the way his Syrian culture and Islamic religion were being depicted. In his opinion, the court was demonstrating prejudices and bigotry against him. He also took umbrage with a probation officer's evaluation regarding his intelligence and health.

Essentially, it was a time-wasting tactic that didn't work in Altantawi's favor.

In the early morning hours of Aug. 21, 2017, Altantawi suffocated his mother and then threw her body out of the second-story window of their 10,000-square-foot home. He then dragged a ladder and tile-cleaning solution over to the window to make it look as if she fell while cleaning the glass.

At the time of her death, Huranieh and her husband were in the middle of getting a divorce due to the fact that Huranieh was moving away from traditional Syrian and Islamic customs. She was also teaching her two daughters to do the same.

Police believe Altantawi resented his mother, and thought she was only interested in his father's money.

Bassell Altantawi was actually in a tough financial spot. In 2016 he was "charged by the Michigan State Attorney General with Medicare fraud at his Urgent Care Clinic in Canton," per The Detroit News. He subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of Medicaid fraud false claims and two counts of health care fraud, both of which are felonies and come with a four-year prison sentence.

Bassell managed to avoid prison but his medical license was suspended, thus rendering him unable to work.

Text messages between Huranieh and a friend revealed that she had information about her estranged husband that could land him in prison. Investigators think Altantawi was trying to keep this information from coming to light.