So I Married a Terrorist . . .

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While converting to Islam was easy, Olson says, keeping her husband happy was another matter entirely. Before they had married, she had agreed to raise her son Ryan as a Muslim and had begun teaching English classes at the Islamic Society of Orange County. But after the wedding, Olson says Diab revealed a dark side. Any perceived slight, such as incorrect pronunciation of Arabic words while reciting from the Koran or acknowledging the presence of men with a simple "hello," would earn her a vicious slap to the face—or worse.

By now, the couple had moved from Olson's condominium in Buena Park to an apartment building in Garden Grove, so they could be closer to the mosque. The building had narrow hallways and staircases. As they were leaving their unit one day, a man had to squeeze past them, and Olson was unable to move out of his way quickly enough to please her husband. "I leaned against the wall, and he brushed by me," Olson recalls. After the man had left the building, she claims, Hisham attacked her. "You have to pay attention," he yelled. "Hisham shoved me so hard I fell down the stairs."

Ryan, now a 21-year-old college student, says he doesn't remember anything but verbal and physical abuse at the hands of Diab. He recalls a typical incident that occurred when he was 6 years old. He had arrived at the apartment after school, only to realize he had left his key at home. "He locked me out of the apartment," Ryan says. "He was inside the apartment the whole time and let me sit out in the cold, banging on the door and crying. I remember my mom came home, found me outside, and was very angry with Hisham. I remember going to my room and hiding there."

According to Ryan, Diab also insisted he eat everything from his plate. He learned to stay hungry until dinner to make sure he could finish his dinner. "I didn't want to be beat by him for not having a completely clean plate," he says. "I still feel exceptionally guilty and sick to my stomach when I have to throw away food for any reason."

Diab's dietary dictums became particularly harsh during Ramadan, a month-long Islamic celebration that obligates all Muslims to fast from dusk to dawn each autumn. Ryan recalls waking up each day and eating as much food as possible, then spending the rest of the day fighting hunger pangs. "One day, I broke down and ate some food out of our cupboard with my friend Muhammed," he says. "Hisham discovered us, and I got the beating of a lifetime for it. I remember my ears hurting like they never had before and the pain in my face from all the times he hit me. I spent the rest of the day in my room."

Haitham "Danny" Bundajki, then the president of the Islamic Society of Orange County, where Diab and Olson prayed and where Olson taught English classes to children, recalls the first time he spoke to Olson. "I noticed that her fist was wrapped, and I asked her what was going on," he says. "She confessed to me that she was being beaten by her husband." On another occasion, he was driving down the street when he happened to pass by her apartment and saw Olson crying on the sidewalk. "I found out she had another fight with her husband, and this was an ongoing thing between them." Bundakji, who also worked as a chaplain for the Garden Grove Police Department, advised Olson to report Diab to the police. "I don't know whether she did," he says. "Usually, I try to bridge the gap between spouses when there is a problem, rather than get the law involved. But when there is visible evidence of abuse, that's when I get angry, and I told her to do something about it."

But Olson says she was too terrified of her husband to stand up to his abuse. On several occasions, she says, Diab threatened to kill her. "I already knew he was crazy," she says. "He said, 'If you try to leave me, I will kill you.'" Diab tried to control her every move, refusing to let her spend any time alone with her son. "He'd hit you for any misspoken word, for shaking someone's hand. You'd get slapped. It was terrifying."

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According to Olson, her husband's strict interpretation of Islam—if not his abusive behavior—was aided and abetted by his best friend, a Palestinian-born U.S. citizen and software engineer named Khalil Deek who had moved to Anaheim from Texas, where he had a brief marriage to an American woman.

Deek, Olson recalls, always seemed to be traveling back and forth from California to the Middle East. He wore a beard and dressed in a dishdashah—a long tunic popular among conservative Muslims—and prayed five times per day. Diab wore Western business suits to work but, like Deek, attended mosque in a dishdashah. Both men rolled their pants up so they didn't touch the ground, a mark of piety inspired by an early Muslim cleric.