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| “ | You said you came to help us. But to help us, you need to respect us, and all you Americans do is bring shame. You break down our doors. You throw us on the ground and put your feet on our necks! You search our women, you humiliate women! And you say to the world that you are the guardians of freedom. But we see what you do. Look at what you do! | „ |
| ~ Harrington denouncing the United States |
Nadira Harrington (née Latif) is the main antagonist of the Law & Order episode "Paradigm". She is an Iraqi woman who murders a former soldier who tortured her brother during the Iraq War.
She was portrayed by Sarita Choudhury, who also portrayed Lee Moldaver in Fallout.
Early life[]
Nadira was born and raised in Iraq alongside her younger brother, Mohammad, whom she helped raise after their parents died. She immigrated to New York City to marry American businessman Jeff Harrington and led a privileged, Americanized life, but she remained an observant Muslim and was outraged by the U.S. invasion of her country in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Her anger against her adopted country increased when Mohammad was taken prisoner by the U.S. Army and detained in Abu Ghraib Prison. There, he was abused, humiliated, and sexually assaulted by the guards, led by Corporal Lindsay Starr, who took sadistic pleasure in forcing him to strip naked and penetrating him with foreign objects. He was eventually released, only to be killed days later by a suicide bomber.
Consumed with grief and outrage, Nadira made it her mission in life to find out the identities of the guards who tortured her brother and make them pay. She eventually found out that Starr had finished her tour of duty and was working in her neighborhood grocery store.
She sent Starr an email saying that she had won a cruise and lured her to an abandoned building by giving her an address to collect her "prize". There, she doused Starr in pig blood in order to shame her for what she did to Mohammad and beat her to death with a lead pipe.
"Paradigm"[]
While investigating Starr's murder, NYPD Homicide Detectives Joe Fontana and Ed Green find pictures she took of herself and her fellow guards abusing prisoners, including Mohammad. They question her commanding officers, who tell them what happened to Mohammad after he was released. Deducing that the killer is one of Mohammad's loved ones, they question Nadira, his only remaining family member, and her barely concealed hatred of Starr makes them suspicious.
They investigate Nadira's finances and discover that she purchased pig blood - which is forbidden in Muslim culture - from a local butcher. When they interrogate her and confront her with the evidence against her, she admits killing Starr and demands to be treated as a prisoner of war.
Executive Assistant District Attorney Jack McCoy and Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn charge Nadira with second-degree murder. Her lawyer, Bernie Adler, argues that she acted in defense of her country and that, in her mind, killing Starr was no different than killing an enemy soldier in combat. Judge Lawrence MacNeil, however, rules against this defense because Nadira has residency in the U.S. and Starr was a U.S. citizen, and neither of them were fighting in a war at the time of the murder. Nevertheless, McCoy and Southerlyn fear that the jury will be so divided about the war and Starr's actions while serving in it that they will be unable to reach a verdict.
During the trial, Nadira testifies in her own defense about what Starr did to her brother and claims that she killed her in self-defense. While cross-examining her, McCoy confronts her with her pre-meditation in bringing the pig blood and lead pipe with her when confronted Starr and says that she must have wanted revenge for her brother's death. Enraged, Nadira says that Starr deserved to die for shaming her brother and accuses the U.S. of shaming her country by invading and treating its people, especially its women, with suspicion and disrespect.
During closing arguments, Adler tells the jury to put themselves in Nadira's place, to ask themselves what they would do if Iraqi soldiers invaded and occupied the U.S. and tortured Americans, or if a terrorist tortured someone they loved and would do it to someone else if given the chance. McCoy counters that Nadira killing Starr was not a political act, but one motivated by simple revenge. The jury agrees with McCoy and finds Nadira guilty of second-degree murder, and she is imprisoned for life.
External links[]
- Nadira Harrington on the Law & Order Wiki
