Shafia family murder

The Shafia family murder is an alleged honour killing that took place on June 30, 2009 in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.^[1] Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, all sisters, as well as Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, their father's first wife, were found dead inside a car that was discovered underwater in the northernmost Kingston Mills lock of the Rideau Canal on the same day.^[2] On July 23, the teenagers' parents Mohammad Shafia, 58 and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41 as well as their brother Hamed Shafia, 20 were arrested on charges of four counts of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.^[3]

On October 11, 2011, jury selection began for the joint trial.^[4]

Background

The Shafia family, originally from Afghanistan, lived in Dubai, United Arab Emirates for over a decade before immigrating into Canada and settling in the Saint-Léonard borough of Montreal.^[5] In 1979 or 1980, Mohammad Shafia married Rona Shafia, who was unable to have children. In 1989, he took Yahya to be his second wife in a polygamous marriage. She gave birth to seven children with Rona Shafia playing a crucial role in their upbringing. According to a family member's interview, she was trapped in an abusive, loveless marriage, trying in vain to convince her husband to grant her a divorce. Rona Shafia's siblings claimed that she feared for her life during the days leading up to her death.^[6] They also stated that the family's eldest daughter Zainab's relationship with a Pakistani boy was a source of much anger for her father and claimed to have overheard his threats to kill her.

See also

• Aqsa Parvez

References

1. ^ Dale, Daniel (2009-07-25). "Shining a light on honour killings' dark corner". Toronto Star. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/671779. Retrieved 2009-07-25. 
2. ^ "A timeline of the Kingston canal deaths". Windsor Star. 2009-07-24. http://www.windsorstar.com/news/timeline+Kingston+canal+deaths/1824608/story.html. Retrieved 2009-07-25. 
3. ^ "Shafia daughter married for revenge, court hears". CBC News. 2011-11-10. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/11/10/shafia-trial-nov10.html. Retrieved 2011-11-10. 
4. ^ Canal drownings trial picks jurors from CBC.ca; published Oct 11, 2011; retrieved October 11, 2011
5. ^ "Picture of troubled family emerges". National Post. 2009-07-25. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1826842&p=2. Retrieved 2009-07-25. ^{[dead link]}
6. ^ "Oldest canal victim feared for her life: siblings". CBC News. 2009-07-24. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2009/07/24/montreal-canal-deaths-rona-mohammed-siblings.html?ref=rss. Retrieved 2009-07-25. 

Persondata
Name	Shafia Family Murder
Alternative names
Short description	Murdered family
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death	June 30, 2009
Place of death	Kingston, Ontario, Canada