Topic: Deaths of four Afghan women in Kingston "an honor killing"

[milnews.ca]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiice....

In the weeks before he helped kill his sisters and his father's first wife, someone had used Hamed Shafia's laptop for an online search.

That person wanted to know: "can a prisoner have control over their real estate?"

Now Hamed, his father Mohammad Shafia and his mother Tooba Yahya are prisoners themselves and they will discover the answer is yes.

The trio were convicted Sunday of first-degree murder for the deaths of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, and Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, their father's first wife in a polygamous marriage.

First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance to apply for parole for 25 years.

The family has been behind bars since their arrests on July 22, 2009.

Mohammad Shafia was a prosperous businessman, a jury heard over the course of the trial.

He began at a young age in Afghanistan, starting an electronics business with money from his grandfather.

After arriving in Montreal in 2007, he bought a strip mall worth over $1 million, with a cash down payment. That same year, he sold a house in Kabul for close to $1 million. He had an import business, bought and sold cars through an online auction and also frequently travelled for business to Dubai.

When she died, his first wife Rona had been travelling with jewelry appraised at roughly $23,000.

Shafia was also building a mansion in a Montreal suburb to house his sprawling family.

His prison quarters will be far tighter, but perhaps not his personal bank account.

Any assets Shafia had before his conviction remain in his hands, criminal lawyers say ....

The Canadian Press, 30 Jan 12

[ObedientiaZelum]

What exactly happens during an appeal?

Does it end up costing the tax payers even more money?

10 weeks for a trial seems long to me.

If this happens in Canada imagine what women go through in Afghanistan.

[GAP]

What exactly happens during an appeal?

Does it end up costing the tax payers even more money?

10 weeks for a trial seems long to me.

If this happens in Canada imagine what women go through in Afghanistan.

this   

30 January 2012
Afghan woman is killed 'for giving birth to a girl'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16787534

[jollyjacktar]

this   

30 January 2012
Afghan woman is killed 'for giving birth to a girl'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16787534

Yeah, disgusting eh?  I read the same story at the Daily Mail site.  My mind boggles at the barbarity of some people.  If you can even call them people, acting this way...

[ObedientiaZelum]

What a disgusting cultural mindset.

[Diamondwillow]

So the male (sorry - that creature cannot be given the honoured title of being called a *man*) kills the woman who produced a girl.. even though its HIS sperm that makes the choice of male/female -I'm sincerely gobsmacked ...  is this culture that uneducated? (I'm doubting it but I'm unfamiliar with the culture) ... hmmm... Maybe since his *male* sperm is so  *slow and weak* compared to the *female* sperm he creates, he should be the one removed from the gene pool... lord have mercy.   The term barbaric is too kind - and the science tosses their beliefs on it's ear.

[GAP]

Christie Blatchford: Startling revelations from relatives as Shafia trial jury deliberates
Christie Blatchford  Jan 28, 2012
Article Link
 
KINGSTON, Ont. — One of Tooba Mohammad Yahya’s sisters and her husband fully endorse the notion of honour-killing. The startling revelation is contained in a Saturday story in Montreal’s La Presse, written by columnist Michele Ouimet, who interviewed the couple in Kabul two months ago.

As news of the story rocketed about the near-empty Kingston courthouse where jurors in the notorious Shafia murder trial are deliberating, the jurors were completing their first full day of work. They retired late Friday, and have now spent 11 hours in their jury room. They are sequestered, always accompanied by two court constables, kept away from radio, TV, newspaper and web reports of any kind and stay overnight as a group at a local hotel.

Ouimet’s front-page story was headlined: “Perdre filles, et avoir péché trois fois”, a quote from Yahya herself. It translates in English as, “to lose three daughters and have sinned three times.”

The reporter had facilitated a call between the two long-lost sisters, and when Soraya said she hoped she’d soon be out of jail, Yahya told her, “Yes my sister, there are problems. To lose three daughters and have sinned three times.”

Asked directly if she would kill for honour, Soraya replied yes, and said if the deed was sufficiently odious, the punishment is elimination. Her husband Habibullah, who was sitting in a corner and not participating in the women’s discussion, at the mention of honour piped up. If his daughters — the couple has seven, and two boys — dishonoured his family, he wouldn’t hesitate, he told Ouimet.

“I would put them in a bag and eliminate them so no one would ever find their traces in Afghanistan,” he said.

Ouimet noted that some of the daughters were present, and quiet, when their father said that.

The scenario fits in squarely with what the prosecution’s so-called cultural expert, Dr. Shahrzad Mojab, testified to at trial. ”There’s no serious debate about the phenomenon (of honour-killing), but on its forms, how to name it and how to deal with it,” she told the jurors.
More on link

[milnews.ca]

So the male (sorry - that creature cannot be given the honoured title of being called a *man*) kills the woman who produced a girl.. even though its HIS sperm that makes the choice of male/female -I'm sincerely gobsmacked ...  is this culture that uneducated? (I'm doubting it but I'm unfamiliar with the culture) ... hmmm... Maybe since his *male* sperm is so  *slow and weak* compared to the *female* sperm he creates, he should be the one removed from the gene pool... lord have mercy.   The term barbaric is too kind - and the science tosses their beliefs on it's ear.

Such subtlety is lost on some....

Christie Blatchford: Startling revelations from relatives as Shafia trial jury deliberates
Christie Blatchford  Jan 28, 2012
Article Link
 
KINGSTON, Ont. — One of Tooba Mohammad Yahya’s sisters and her husband fully endorse the notion of honour-killing. The startling revelation is contained in a Saturday story in Montreal’s La Presse, written by columnist Michele Ouimet, who interviewed the couple in Kabul two months ago ....

As much as I'm a fan of Christie for her coverage of (and support for) the troops, this should not be a "startling revelation":  "Some Afghans in Afghanistan endorse honour killings" is hardly an above-the-fold headline in Afghanistan, so we shouldn't be too surprised.

Still, sad, sick story all around.....

[Strike]

As much as I'm a fan of Christie for her coverage of (and support for) the troops, this should not be a "startling revelation":  "Some Afghans in Afghanistan endorse honour killings" is hardly an above-the-fold headline in Afghanistan, so we shouldn't be too surprised.

I would not doubt it if she wrote that headline toungue-in-cheek.

[jollyjacktar]

It's funny.  I listened to her being interviewed on the radio yesterday afternoon on the drive home.  She said that she did speak with a male member of the woman's family, an Uncle I believe.  She asked him about the thought of honour killing one of the girls for being with a man of Pakistani origins, if that was OK with him.  She said, that he said, "No, he had a daughter who recently (last month or so) married a man of Pakistani origins and he was OK with that."  So it would appear as if there is at least one relative who does not sing the same sick song, at least publicly.

[milnews.ca]

It's funny.  I listened to her being interviewed on the radio yesterday afternoon on the drive home.  She said that she did speak with a male member of the woman's family, an Uncle I believe.  She asked him about the thought of honour killing one of the girls for being with a man of Pakistani origins, if that was OK with him.  She said, that he said, "No, he had a daughter who recently (last month or so) married a man of Pakistani origins and he was OK with that."  So it would appear as if there is at least one relative who does not sing the same sick song, at least publicly.

Interesting how this tidbit didn't come up in her column - I guess there wasn't room.  Thanks for sharing that.

What exactly happens during an appeal?

Does it end up costing the tax payers even more money? ....

We're going to find out shortly.....

Hamed Shafia's lawyer has filed a notice to appeal his first-degree murder conviction in the deaths of four family members, the lawyer confirmed Tuesday.

The 21-year-old and his parents — Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42 — were convicted on Sunday of the first-degree murder of Shafia's three teenage daughters and his first wife.

Shafia sisters, Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were found dead June 30, 2009, inside the family's Nissan Sentra that was discovered submerged at the bottom of the Rideau Canal at Kingston Mills, a lock station on the Rideau Canal in eastern Ontario.

Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, also was in the car. She was Shafia's first wife, whom he married in his native Afghanistan before the polygamous family moved to Canada in 2007 and settled in Montreal.

All of the victims had drowned but examinations could not pinpoint where and how they drowned.

Lawyer Patrick McCann said Tuesday it could take up to a year before the appeal is heard in court. He declined to provide any additional details ....

Postmedia News, 31 Jan 12

Also, from the same source, this from AFG's embassy in Ottawa:

.... the Embassy of Afghanistan in Ottawa issued a statement on the Shafia verdicts.

"The Embassy of Afghanistan in Ottawa condemns the horrific death of four innocent women in Kingston, Ontario, with the strongest terms possible. The killing of Rona Amir Mohammed, Zainab Shafia, Sahar Shafia and Geeti Shafia, which accrued in summer 2009, were a heinous crime against humanity," the statement said.

"This kind of crime is neither part of Afghan culture nor Islamic culture, and it is not acceptable in any ways. There is nothing honorable, about violence against anyone especially against innocent women. Honor killing is unacceptable in Afghanistan constitution and its justice system." ....

Still no such statement on the embassy's web page - will share once it pops up.

[jollyjacktar]

Interesting how this tidbit didn't come up in her column - I guess there wasn't room.  Thanks for sharing that.
We're going to find out shortly.....Postmedia News, 31 Jan 12

She also called all three murders bald faces liars with absolutely no honour whatsoever, who could not tell the truth and lied their pants off from the start to finish.  She had only scorn and derision for all three.  Bravo Christie for telling it like it is.

[Strike]

I found her writing pretty entertaining.  I would read the basic articles and then go on to hers to try to get a feel of how things were going during the trial.  Had some friends that were able to attend a couple days at a time and they all pretty much said that what she wrote was how things unroled during the trial.

[Bruce Monkhouse]

What a disgusting cultural mindset.

The North American man who beats his wife is exactly the same slimy beast................

This is about having power over someone, it's not given up easy.  It took a rather large loss of life and property before the South decided to cede their power over slaves, and I'm sure even today I could find folks who would take those days back in a heartbeat.  They would be in no way indicative of ' a cultural mindset".

[Retired AF Guy]

What exactly happens during an appeal?

The Readers Digest Condensed version:

How to Process an Indictable Appeal

Does it end up costing the tax payers even more money?

Yep!

10 weeks for a trial seems long to me.

Ahhh, the "Law and Order/ CSI Effect! Remember, that there was no "direct smoking gun" that implicated the Shafia's. Instead it was a multitude of bits and pieces of evidence from different jurisdictions that had to be presented in at least three different languages. And speaking of the "CSI Effect," when the forensic witness was asked as to the exact causes of death, he (figuratively) shrugged his shoulders and said I don't know. Kudo's to the jury for ignoring this phenomena and sticking with the actual evidence.