Zaynab Khadr: Difference between revisions
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Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children.<ref name="child" /> |
Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children.<ref name="child" /> |
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She has since been a stalwart defender of the family's legal rights to remain in Canada, and for her imprisoned brothers [[Abdullah Khadr|Abdullah]] and [[Omar Khadr|Omar]]. |
She has since been a stalwart defender of the family's legal rights to remain in Canada, and for her imprisoned brothers [[Abdullah Khadr|Abdullah]] and [[Omar Khadr|Omar]]. Angry Wookie wants to talk (talk to him). |
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==Life== |
==Life== |
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Revision as of 08:27, 21 July 2012
Zaynab Khadr | |
|---|---|
 Zaynab Khadr in 2008 | |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Children | Safia Khadr |
| Parent(s) | Ahmed Khadr Maha el-Samnah |
The eldest child of the Khadr family, Zaynab Khadr (in Arabic زينب خضر) was born in Canada to Maha el-Samnah and Ahmed Khadr.
Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children.[1]
She has since been a stalwart defender of the family's legal rights to remain in Canada, and for her imprisoned brothers Abdullah and Omar. Angry Wookie wants to talk (talk to him).
Life
In July 1995, Ahmed arranged for the 15-year old Zaynab to marry an Egyptian man named Khalid Abdullah in December, and Maha began preparing an apartment for the couple in the family's house.[1]
On November 19 Ayman al-Zawahiri bombed the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan, and Zaynab's fiancee went into hiding, named as one of the conspirators.[1] When police arrived to arrest her father on suspicion of involvement eight days later, Zaynab took her father's rifle and held it over her head screaming, while her mother barricaded the door.[1]
Zaynab recalled celebrating the engagement of Umayma al-Zawahiri at her family's house for an all-day party, and her father Ayman al-Zawahiri knocking softly at Umayma's door asking the two girls to please keep their singing and partying quiet as it was nighttime.[2]
Her fiance re-surfaced in Tehran in October 1997, and contacted the family to try to re-schedule the wedding he had missed. Ahmed agreed to bring his family on a long vacation culminating in the city for a farewell to the reluctant Zaynab as she started a new life with Abdullah.[1]
Six months after the couple began living in a rented Tehran apartment, Abdullah phoned his father-in-law to report that Zaynab was inconsolable at being separated from her family, and the marriage was not working out. She returned to live with her family.[1]
Second marriage
In 1999, Zaynab was introduced to the Yemeni Yacoub al-Bahr, who had fought in Bosnia although better-known as a wedding singer in Kabul. Her father asked the boys of the family to vote on whether he should give his consent for the two to marry, and did so after Abdurahman and Kareem voiced their enthusiasm - while Omar and Abdullah abstained.[1] The wedding was in Kabul, and both al-Zawahiri and bin Laden attended, although Zaynab later explained that nobody was individually invited, and that word of mouth simply informed all interested parties about the open invitation to their upcoming wedding.[3] The couple moved into a separate wing of the Khadr household.[1]
The following year, Zaynab and her mother returned to Canada for several months late in her pregnancy, and gave birth to a daughter, named Safia.[1] After returning to Afghanistan and introducing her new child to Rabiyah Hutchinson, Zaynab was advised to have a doctor look into her daughter's enlarged cranium. Safia was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and required surgery, which Zaynab decided would be better performed at a Canadian hospital. Her husband disagreed, and insisted that a hospital in Lahore would be just as effective. When Zaynab insisted on taking her daughter home to Canada, al-Bahr left the household permanently.[1]
Life in Post-invasion Afghanistan
In late 2001, Zaynab's father ran into al-Bahr in Kabul and told him that he should either return to his wife and daughter, or consent to a divorce. After receiving written reassurance from Zaynab that she would not seek any form of restitution, he agreed to a formal divorce.[1]
In January 2002, she took Abdulkareem and Safia to Lahore for a stay at the hospital, where her daughter needed medical attention. Abdullah later joined them, since he required surgery to remove cartilage from his nose.[1]
In 2003, Zaynab, her daughter and her mother stayed at a house in Birmal, Pakistan for two days, before their hosts grew wary of American jets overhead, and they moved further into the mountains of Waziristan.[4]
Permanent return to Canada
Zaynab lived in a rented apartment with her daughter and younger sister in Islamabad, Pakistan, and although her passport was revoked by the Canadian High Commission in Pakistan, she returned to Canada on February 17, 2005 to be with her mother, and help the legal defence teams of her brothers Abdullah Khadr and Omar Khadr.[3][5] Zaynab and her mother are both on passport "control" lists, meaning they will no longer be issued Canadian passports due to the frequency with which they reported losing their passports since 1999.[6]
When she returned to Canada, security officials, including Konrad Shourie, met her at the airport bearing a search warrant stating that "Zaynab Khadr has willingly participated and contributed both directly and indirectly towards enhancing the ability of Al Qaeda", and seized her laptop, DVDs, audiocassettes, diary and other files.[7][8] They claimed that they were able to determine the present locations of multiple al-Qaeda veterans, though were not able to produce any evidence to charge her. Zaynab offered the defence that she had purchased the computer second-hand seven months before her trip.[9] After the expiry of the three-month limit on holding the items, the RCMP was granted a one-year extension on June 18.[10][11][12]
On October 5, 2009, Isabel Teotonio, writing in the Toronto Star, while reporting on her brother Abdullah's extradition hearing, asserted that Canadian officials had seized a hard drive that had belonged to her father.[8]
Although she has indicated a desire to one day return to Pakistan, her Canadian passport remains withheld, rendering her unable to leave the country.
Advocacy
In 2004, Zaynab appeared in a documentary entitled Son of al Qaeda, during which she made the following comment concerning the September 11th attacks;
"We don't like seeing people killed...[a]t the same time, when you're seeing your people being killed and killed and killed, everyday, everyday, everyday, and then you see whoever is doing this...being killed, you don't want to feel happy. But you just sort of think, "They deserve it. They've been doing it for such a long time, why shouldn't they feel it once in a while?"[13]
Most news stories arising from the documentary stated only that she had supported the attacks, and solidified public sentiment against the family.[14]
Zaynab has been involved in arranging support for other Canadians accused of militant actions in the War on Terror, notably attending the bail hearings and preliminaries for the accused men and youths arrested in Toronto in 2006. Her presence has caused a stir in the media, while she maintains that many of the accused were friends of the family.[5]
In October 2008, Zaynab began an 18-day hunger strike on Parliament Hill where she hoped to draw attention to the government's inaction on bringing her brother back to face trial in Canada.[15]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Shephard, Michelle (2008). Guantanamo's Child. John Wiley & Sons.
- ^ Wright, Lawrence, "The Looming Tower", 2006
- ^ a b Daughter of alleged terrorist returns: RCMP meets her with search warrant, February 27, 2005 Cite error: The named reference "cageprisoners" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ McGirk, Jan. The Independent, The lonely world of al-Qaeda's wives, April 4
- ^ a b Accused terrorists' families supply drama, Toronto Star, July 7, 2006
- ^ Shephard, Michelle and Tonda MacCharles. Toronto Star, "Shadow of CSIS will follow Khadr", December 3, 2003
- ^ "Khadr laptop seized at Toronto airport: report". CTV News. March 3, 2005. Retrieved 2008-01-13.
- ^ a b Isabel Teotonio (2009-10-05). "'A grenade launcher in every house': Fighting extradition to the U.S., Canadian Abdullah Khadr testifies that when you go fishing in Afghanistan, you do it with a bomb". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2009-10-05.
- ^ Canada Discovers AQ Information Trove, Ed Morrissey, Captain's Quarters, June 15, 2005
- ^ RCMP can hold items of Khadr family member, judge rules , CBC, June 18, 2005
- ^ Mounties uncover 'Al Qaeda' cache: Plans, tapes diaries seized at Pearson Zaynab Khadr denies they belong to her, Toronto Star, June 14, 2005
- ^ Toronto hearing a window on terror probe, Toronto Star, June 18, 2005
- ^ "Son of Al Qaeda" PBS documentary on Abdurahman Khadr
- ^ Shephard, Michelle. Toronto Star, Khadr family views won't help Omar, lawyer says, September 9, 2008
- ^ Michelle Shephard (2008-10-08). "Omar Khadr's sister stages hunger strike". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2008-10-19. mirror