"Hate is alive here": the wife of a battered Mississauga man speaks after the attack

It was supposed to be a peaceful summer evening out with friends, but things took a frightening turn when a police officer from Mississauga, Ontario, was severely beaten in a crime motivated by hate.

Mohammed Abu Marzouk, 39, was about to return from a picnic that he was dating with his family near the Mississauga Valley Community Center on Sunday night when two men were walking behind him. car started shouting at the family. f – King of the Arab people! Terrorists, "said his wife, Diana Attar, in an exclusive interview with CBC News

" You have not seen us! the pair shouted before kicking in Abu Marzouk's car. Police say that they have no indication that anyone has been hit by a vehicle before the violence breaks out.

Abu Marzouk came out of his vehicle to talk to the men. When he did, said Attar, one of the men punched him in the face. A friend of the couple who was also at the picnic that night came to try to break things. He suffered minor injuries

– please, do not hurt my husband & # 39;

"Please, do not touch him, please, do not hurt my husband." Attar remembers pleading.

Nearby, she spotted a police car and ran to ask for help. When she returned, her husband had fallen to the ground, blood flowing from his ear and gathering around his head. Moments later, he loses consciousness and Attar starts reciting prayers for Abu Marzouk to survive.

Diana Attar speaks exclusively with CBC News about a vicious beating that she said almost cost her husband's life. (CBC)

While she was leaning over her husband to hold him back, Attar said that she had also been kicked.

The father of two was transported to a Toronto trauma center with what his family said were multiple facial fractures and cerebral hemorrhage. Almost immediately, he was caught in surgery where Attar says that they "removed part of his skull" to stop the bleeding and put a breathing tube. All the while, said Attar, his four- and six-year-old daughters asked him if their father was dead and if they would ever see him again.

Police now treat the incident as being motivated by hate

Two men from Brampton, ages 19 and 27, were charged with one count of aggravated badault and two aggression leaders. The pair appeared in court Monday morning.

I lived in this country for 39 years, I have never faced that. – Fuat Yucel

Initially, the Peel Regional Police treated the incident solely as a case of road rage. But Tuesday night, that changed with the police confirming that they are now investigating the attack as being motivated by hate.

. Men quoting the ongoing investigation, but said that investigators consult the Crown Attorney's Office. For a hate crime charge to be laid in Ontario, the Attorney General of the province must give consent.

Fuat Yucel, the friend who tried to intervene in the incident, said that he has never seen anything similar to what he's saw Sunday night.

"We must worry"

"I have lived in this country 39 years, I have never faced that … There is absolutely no doubt, it's a hate crime, "said Yucel." Islamophobia, it exists. "

Ibrahim Hindy is the imam of Dar Al-Tawheed, the mosque where the family prays Abu Marzouk

"My children are playing with their children," he said, so when he heard that this 39-year-old man was in the hospital, he was rushed to visit him. "I did not realize how much he had been beaten," said Hindy, who went on social media to raise awareness about the incident Tuesday because the family "Had the impression of not being heard."

Fuat Yucel, a friend of the couple who was also at the picnic that night, came to try to break things. in 39 years of life in Canada, he has never seen anything like it to what happened Sunday night. (CBC)

That the police now treat the incident as motivated by hate was good news for Hindy. Anti-Muslim hate crimes reported to Peel police last year jumped 91%

"They called them Arab terrorists, so clearly their religion, their ethnicity played a role in that any community, but that's an important problem that's happening, "said Hindy.

Persistent Images, Persistent Questions

" As a society, we must begin to recognize the fact that hate is alive here, a very important motivator in this attack and that must be recognized for it to be "

Ibrahim Hindy is the imam of Dar Al-Tawheed, the mosque where prays the family of Abu Marzouk. He says that Sunday's incident is a reminder that hate remains alive in Canada. (CBC)

For her part, Attar remains shaken, the image of her husband being replayed replaying in her mind and the smell of the blood that still surrounds her with it.

She also wondered why – if the sight of her hijab when she pbaded her head out the window, the men could have been pushed aside.

"I would have lost it if the police did not come, I would have lost … for nothing."