Three Afghan-Canadians charged with murdering four relatives in a so-called "honour killing" have been convicted on all charges. The verdict was reached shortly after 1 pm Sunday afternoon and delivered about an hour later to a packed courtroom. In all, the seven-woman, five-man jury had deliberated just over 15 hours, spread over two days, sequestered on the second floor of the historic Frontenac County Court House in downtown Kingston.‬ ‪The defendants face an automatic penalty of life imprisonment with no chance of parole for at least 25 years. After the sentencing was completed, defence lawyer David Crowe said he was disappointed with the outcome and there would be an appeal. There have been other murder charges involving so-called "honour killings" homicides of women slain out of a perverse desire to "purify" families of disgrace created by supposedly immoral conduct but not on this scale, and not involving parents who were willing to wipe out half their family for the sake of their honour, and then lie about it.‬ ‪Charged with four counts of first-degree murder were businessman Mohammad Shafia, 59, his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42, and their eldest son, Hamed, 21.‬ ‪They stood accused of drowning sisters Zainab, Sahar and Geeti Shafia, aged 19, 17 and 13, whose bodies were found in a submerged car at a Rideau Canal lock, just east of Kingston, in June, 2009.‬ The fourth person in the vehicle was Mr. Shafias first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad, 53, who had entered Canada illegally, posing as his cousin, but who in fact was part of a polygamous marriage and who by every indication wanted to escape from it. ‪ All three defendants briefly addressed the court and proclaimed their innocence in what Mr. Justice Robert Maranger described as a heinous crime. We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust, Mr. Mohammad said through a translater. Ms.Yahya responded: Your honourable justice, this is not just. I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother. Their son said, in English: Sir, I did not drown my sisters anywhere. But the judge was unmoved. You have each been convicted of the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family...(A verdict) clearly supported by the evidence presented at this trial, said Judge Maranger. It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime...the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society. The 10-member family one husband, two wives, seven children who were all Ms. Yahya's progeny settled in Montreal in 2007 after fleeing Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in 1992 and spending years in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. What linked the four victims, co-prosecutor Laurie Lacelle told the jury in her closing arguments, was their desperate shared desire to break away from the constraints of the oppressive Shafia household, ruled with a rod of iron by Mr. Shafia, the ill-tempered, often violent family patriarch. The defendants pleaded not guilty to what the prosecution contended was a carefully planned but clumsily executed quadruple murder, disguised as an accident, committed chiefly to cleanse the Shafia name and reputation of shame brought about by the victims rebellious conduct, particularly Zainabs and Sahars interest in boys and dating. ‪Rarely does a murder trial garner the attention that this one did, the chief reason being that in the history of Canada, and probably every other Western country, it was unique.‬ ‪In its final weeks, the trial drew big crowds, often lining up well ahead of time for a spot in the 150-seat courtroom. It was also expensive. A police source directly involved in the case estimated the final tab will run into millions of dollars.‬ The trial began Oct. 20. Among the regulars was Kingston resident Barb Jagger, 52, who for a couple of weeks shared a cell with Ms. Yahya in the segregation block of Quinte Detention Centre, west of Kingston. She recalls her cellmate as quiet, pleasant and evidently deeply religious. She would pray five times a day, Ms. Jagger said, and often read the Koran. Ms. Yahya denied murdering anybody, Ms. Jagger said "She looked me in the eyes, she had tears streaming down her face, and she said to me: 'Barb, I didn't bring seven children into this world just to kill them.' " With a report from The Canadian Press
Why anyone lets people from those countries immigrate is beyond me. We should all says it's a terrorist threat and stop immigration from every muslim country immediately.
If we had stopped immigration of any group that did NOT ever commit crimes like this, there would be no people in our countries, except for the Native Americans, who were already here. I would suspect mos Native Americans agree wholeheartedly with the idea. BTW, why the "Guilty, guilty & guilty....thankfully!!!" Did anyone seriously think they would be let off if the evidence showed them guilty?
Come on, you know as well as I do that there are no absolutes in any trial, guilty or not...does OJ ring a bell?
Not all Muslims are murderers or terrorists, that's ridiculous. There are plenty of good Muslim citizens in Canada that live productive and peaceful lives. Shall we stop any Christians from immigrating? There's many who have bombed civic buildings, medical clinics & shot doctors, all for their beliefs.
I have only 2 questions that no one is able to answer, I guess: If you don't want your family to be exposed to Western culture and you believe it's evil --- why did you move here? And why do the Marxists keep supporting this religion? The inference is apparent: that murdering your wives and daughters is not in opposition to the Marxist philosophy.
Agreed. And most of the evidence seemed to be from audio recordings, which could really go anyway in a trial like this. Anyway, its good to hear.
http://www.immigration-quebec.gouv....immigrant/three-programs/investors/index.html This could be the reason. Apparently, anyone can buy their way in. Bloody capitalism! And in this case, literal too.
Are you addressing anyone in particular? Because if you are referring to me, I am an individual, not "the marxist left". If you would stop stereotyping people based on the ridiculous talking points in your head you would probably get more answers. To answer your post. This I will agree with. If you have no interest in western culture, don't move to the west. Hmm who is supporting any religion? I guess it's those mysterious marxists you keep seeing everywhere. I think you might be confusing tolerance with all religions with supporting a religion. Well I guess you will have to find a Marxist and ask them. But it's more likely they will look at you like an immature dolt for providing such a retarded and delusional strawman.
So, let me get this straight....anyone that is a Liberal is a Marxist? I'm a Liberal and do not think it's ok to murder anyone. I also don't think you can paint all Muslims with the same brush. There's lots of wife/husband/child murderers in the non Muslim community, just look at your own stats. You're just being.... what's the word? Conservative and rigid in your outlook...
Great questions! 1. They are colonists. They didn't come here to allow the West to civilize sharia law. When they have enough numbers, they will impose sharia law on the West. It helps that Muslims can go on the public dole and have large, non-Muslim taxpayer subsidized families. 2. Because, the Left will see the West destroyed by any means necessary. If they cannot rule the West, they want it annihilated. _
On January 29, after a ten-week trial and fifteen hours of deliberations, a seven woman, five man jury returned with a verdict of guilty to first degree murder for all three Afghan-Canadians who were charged in the pre-meditated murder of four female members of the polygamous Shafia family. The convicted are each facing 25 years without parole. Mohammed Shafia, 58, Tooba Yahya, 42 (his second wife), and Hamed, 21, their son, were found guilty of conspiring to and of having murdered Mohammed’s first wife, Rona Mohammed Amir, 50, and Tooba Yahya’s three daughters, Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, because they refused to wear hijab, wore Western, sometimes “sexy” clothing, dared to have boyfriends, and, in their father’s words, “dishonored” and “betrayed” both “their family and Islam.” On June 30, 2009, when the bodies of the dead girls and woman were discovered in the family's Nissan in the Rideau Canal, the accused wept uncontrollably and went through an exaggerated public display of mourning. However, privately, post-massacre, the police recovered wiretaps of Mohammed Shafia saying that his daughters had “hurt (him)..and betrayed…and violated us immensely. God curse their generation, they were filthy and rotten children. To hell with them and their boyfriends…May the devil (*)(*)(*)(*) on their graves.” On wiretap, Mohammed said that if he had it to do over again he would. His self-pity, self-righteousness, and cruelty are typical of the kinds of men who commit such murders. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012...ing-trial-be-turning-point-for/#ixzz1kuf6VCqo
Some have a real problem of right and wrong and honor. How much honor is it to murder your own family? I have no doubt they don't look at it the same if a Muslim male was acting to Western.
As bad as it was, we don't go in for that type of thing. It doesn't prevent one fellow being from murdering another and what would be worse is the putting to death of a person who didn't commit the crime but was found guilty of it. Although, it obviously doesn't apply in this case but consistency is paramount in justice.
And in the future Don? Theorizing just a bit. Bear with me for a moment and look far down the path, and you will see that eventually the left will become the patriots, and fight for what they have been instrumental in annihilating. They are caused base in their make up and mind set, which is further amplified with their realities that the ends justify the means, violence inclusive of that with ample evidence. In the end, they will justify whatever actions are necessary to fulfill their cause based ideology, absolve themselves completely of how they generated the annihilation in the first place...and branch into patriotism as their cause to fight against those they previously enabled via their cause based mind set.
I'm sure that we would have a certain percentage that would come to their senses. I think they would completely change their political philosophy to become conservative because they would know who brought this upon the West. The rest would either submit or flee. Some liberals woke up after 9/11. The late Ron Silver is a good example. _
