A jury in Canada has found three members of one family guilty of the 2009 so-called “honour killing” deaths of four female relatives.
The court in Kingston, Ontario, convicted Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife, Tooba Mahommad Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, on Sunday of first-degree murder, a verdict that carries an automatic sentence of life in prison without chance of parole for 25 years.
The three defendants were found guilty of the deaths of the couple’s three daughters and Shafia’s first wife in his polygamous marriage after a four-month-long trial that saw dozens of witnesses testify.
Judge Robert Maranger described the killings as “cold-blooded, shameful murders” resulting from a “twisted concept of honour”.
Plea of innocence
The Afghan immigrant couple and their son declared their innocence in the killings of Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia’s first wife in a polygamous marriage.
“We are not criminal, we are not murderers, we didn’t commit the murder and this is unjust,” Shafia said.
His weeping second wife, Tooba said, ”I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother.”
But Judge Maranger was unmoved, saying the evidence clearly supported their conviction for “the planned and deliberate murder of four
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