The trial that ended with Hamed Shafia behind bars for the murder of four members of his family was afflicted by media bias and hearsay evidence, his lawyer told the Montreal Gazette, confirming he's appealing his client's first-degree murder convictions.
A jury yesterday found the 21-year old, his Afghan father, his wife guilty of killing three teenage sisters and another wife in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honour" in a case that shocked and riveted Canadians.
Canadian prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonoured the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socialising and using the interne.
Lawyer Patrick McCann told the Montreal Gazette today that the appeal is based upon inadmissible hearsay evidence of key witnesses, including the sisters' boyfriends and teachers who recalled statements made to them by the sisters, as well as testimony from social workers, police, shelter workers, friends and others.
McCann said this hearsay evidence should not have been heard by the jury.
Afghan embassy condemns deaths
Meanwhile, the Embassy of Afghanistan in Ottawa issued a statement about the 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 occurred 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 honourable about violence against anyone, especially against innocent women. Honour killing is unacceptable in (the) Afghanistan constitution and its justice system.
Shafia trial 'a wake-up call for Canadian Muslim'
The Globe and Mail's Sheema Khan reports horrific details of dysfunction within the Shafia family, culminating with the murder, have shaken many Canadian Muslims out of complacency.
The paper reports authorities in Canada are brainstorming on ways to address the issue of honour killings in the country, and community-based initiatives, such as a group of Muslim men launching the first-ever Muslim community White Ribbon Campaign at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, are already trying to address the problem.
The Shafia family moved to Canada in 2007, after living in Australia, Pakistan and Dubai over the previous 15 years.
Judge Robert Maranger called the crimes "heinous" as he sentenced the accused to 25 years in prison, and said the evidence clearly supported the charges.
"The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor," the judge said.
"It's a sick notion of honor that has no place in a civilized society."
Mohammad Shafia replied: "We are not criminals. We are not murderers. We didn't commit murder. This is unjust."
"I am not a murderer. I am a mother," echoed Tooba Yahya.
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 heard dozens of witnesses testify.
The bodies of the victims -- Zainab Shafia, 19; Sahar Shafia, 17; Geeti Shafia, 13; and Rona Amir Mohammad, 50 -- were found in a car submerged in a canal lock near Kingston, Ontario in June 2009.
Court testimony told of an abusive home gripped by fear and where the victims received frequent death threats, in part over the fact that the two eldest daughters had boyfriends without their father's approval.
Prosecutors argued throughout the four-month trial the murders were staged as an accident by the accused to cover up what they called an honor killing.
They said the victims were drowned or rendered unconscious before being put in a car and then pushed into the water.
It was argued that in the eyes of the father the three girls had damaged the family's reputation with their indiscretions, such as wearing revealing clothing and telling school officials of alleged abuse at home.
Crown attorney Laurie Lacelle said in her closing arguments that the goal was to "remove the diseased limb" from the family tree.
The defense, however, maintained the deaths were accidental and a result of the eldest daughter going on a joyride.
They contend Zainab took the car in the middle of the night while the family slept at a Kingston motel overnight where they stopped to rest returning to Montreal from a trip to Niagara Falls.
On the morning of the deaths, a car was discovered underwater at the upper lock at Kingston Mills with the four bodies inside. A post-mortem examination indicated they died of drowning.
Canada has seen 13 such killings -- which are more common in countries in the Middle East and South Asia -- since 2002, Amin Muhammed, a psychiatry professor at Memorial University in Saint John's, Newfoundland, said in October.
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