DANNEMORA, N.Y. — Over 10 years ago, a horrific crime shocked Western New York. Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan brutally killed his wife Aasiya Zubair Hassan. She was beheaded.
For the interview, Mo Hassan was escorted into a room, unchecked, with a table and two chairs. He sat inside a room at the Clinton Correctional Correctional Facility for almost two hours. The 54-year-old admits to committing the crime but paints himself as a victim.
"Aasiya would not have died if there was a way to recognize and diagnose an treat female batterers," he said. "My purpose in trying to do this interview is to figure out how we can save lives of women."
Court records revealed Aasiya was a victim of domestic violence. Her husband was called narcissistic, manipulative and delusional. She had orders of protection and was seeking a divorce.
On February 12, 2009, when Aasiya went to the TV studio to drop off clothes for her husband, who was no longer living at home, she was ambushed. The 36-year-old mother of two young children was stabbed repeatedly and beheaded by her husband.
Right after the heinous crime, he went outside and gave his older son thousands of dollars and then proceeded to the Orchard Park Police station to report the crime.
10 years later, is there any remorse? Hassan said "first, I loved my wife very much. I could not have built Bridges TV without Aasiya. I'm truly very sorry that this tragedy happened. I wish there was some other outcome to this and it has taken me a long time to understand why it happened.”
During a long exchange with Reporter Claudine Ewing, Hassan continued to cite studies and research that he says details battered spouse syndrome and how violent women are not prosecuted as much as men.
Claudine Ewing: You thought about what you were going to do?
Mo Hassan: I did not.
Ewing: You didn't?
Hassan: No, it happened that very day.
Ewing: So you just happened to get the knives and then it just happened? She walked in and you decided you were going to stab her and behead her?
Hassan: That day when she threatened to kill me in the conference room, after that my mind kind of went berserk.
Ewing: Why would you kill another human being that you loved and had kids with?
Hassan: Well this is what happened when you're constantly being abused at home, you have no way out because anytime I tried to leave she made false accusations against me and the whole system comes crashing down on me.
Ewing: You said that you didn't plan it, you hadn't read over any cases where this had happened before, but who just has swords or knives available to do that?
Hassan: No, I went to Walmart and bought them.
Ewing: Somewhere along the line when you bought those knives were you thinking, if I have to use these on her I will?
Hassan: uhmmmm.
Ewing: Where did the whole notion of beheading come from?
Hassan: There was no notion to that it was just once it started I just couldn't stop.
Ewing: 10 years later has anything in your mindset changed, if you could go back, would you think differently? Would you have gone to Walmart to get knives, would you have stabbed her 40 times, would you have cut her head off, I mean who thinks like that, who does that?
Hassan: Nobody does that and I'm very sorry for that and it should to have happened.
Hassan said he believes he does not need mental health services. "Everything happens for a reason and it's a tragedy that my wife had to die for America to discover that men and women abuse each other at equal rates. It's a tragedy."
From prison, he writes a blog focused on sex discrimination against battered men.
Clinton Correctional is where some of the most hardened criminals are housed. The Bike Path Rapist Altemio Sanchez is one of the thousands of inmates at the maximum security prison. It is also where two inmates plotted a breakout with the help of a prison worker escaping through a manhole in 2015.
Mo and Aasiya started the first American Muslim English-language television network called Bridges TV based out of Orchard Park, New York. He was a former M&T Bank vice president. She was an architect and a businesswoman, running a 7-Eleven store across from the Orchard Park police department.
The couple was married for eight years. Together they had two children. Mo Hassan has two older children from a previous marriage. He was married three times.
Part 2 of Claudine Ewing's conversation with Mo Hassan
Hassan is serving 25-years to life in prison. He isn't eligible for a parole hearing until 2033 and earliest release in 2034. Many experts say it is unlikely he will be released. His first appeal of his conviction was denied.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, there is help available. Below are places offering resources and services.
Family Justice Center (information & counseling services) (716) 558-7233
Crisis Services (24-hour hotline) (716) 834-3131
Cornerstone Manor (shelter for women and children) (716) 852-0761
Haven House (24-hour hotline) (716) 884–6000
Hassan sent several letters to reporter Claudine Ewing since he was first charged in Aasiya Hassan's murder. Here are a few snippets from two letters.