Islamophobia is a stark reality in America

There is something inherently flawed in American society when a woman is bludgeoned to death with a tyre iron, simply because she wears a hijab. And adding insult to the horrific death of Shaima Al Awadi is the fact that her sick and depraved assailant left a note next to her broken body: "Go back to your country."

The family had just moved to El Cajon, California, in pursuit of the American dream of a better life. But Shaima found instead the stark American reality of Islamophobia and hatred, and death at the end of a repeated beating with a cold metal bar.

How ironic that Shaima's husband worked closely with the US military and private contractors, providing cultural sensitivity training. Those who were going to be deployed to Iraq were given do's and don'ts by the now grieving widower.

Instead, they moved to Michigan, before heading to California some weeks ago. El Cajon is home to some 40,000 Iraqis, so it's not as if Shaima and her family were isolated. Instead, it suggests the beating was targeted, premeditated and one in which race and religion were the prime motivators of hatred.

Groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations have long warned about growing incidents of hatred and growing Islamophobia. Indeed, given the comments made by Republican presidential hopefuls on the perceived threat of Sharia law, the flames of xenophobia are being fanned in the name of politics. And when police forces engage in questionable and illegal spying on the Muslim community in New York, it's no wonder that hatred and paranoia have pervaded elements of society.

Shaima's killer must be brought to justice and face prosecution for perpetrating a hate crime. Anything less is a further indignity to Shaima.