Free Honour on Trial by Paul Schliesmann

that she would get an apartment so she and her daughters could move out of the house. Despite Zainab's suspicions, Ammar thought Tooba was sincere. "A mother's always a mother," he believed.
    Then Tooba upped the ante. If Zainab came home, she would help arrange her marriage to Ammar. Zainab stayed at the shelter for another week. On May 2, she went home. Not coincidentally, her father had left the day before on another one of his extended business trips to Dubai. He would be gone for several weeks.
    May 18 was set as the date for Ammar and Zainab's wedding, though no one in the family liked the idea of her marrying outside the Afghan community, especially to a young man who had no job, no money, no apparent family support, and what they suspected was a problem with drugs and alcohol. They had also heard a rumour that Ammar was engaged to a young woman in Pakistan, arranged by his family. Ammar has always denied this.
    In order to have a religious wedding in the Muslim tradition, Tooba and Hamed would have to find a mullah to conduct the ceremony. Because they did not attend a mosque, they had to enlist the help of Tooba's uncle, Latif Hyderi, who lived not too far from the Shafias. This was a delicate business within the family system, however. Not long after the Shafias came to Montreal in June of 2007, Latif had suggested an arranged marriage between Zainab and his own son, Hussain. Zainab and Hussain were second cousins. The arrangement was rebuffed. Tooba told her uncle that Zainab was too young to marry and needed to finish her education.
    Though the two families had limited contact after that incident, the Shafias were now desperate. Uncle Latif agreed to help. He even went to the mosque on May 18 with Tooba and Hamed to see Zainab and Ammar being married. Latif's other son, Reza, was there as a witness.
    Following tradition, the celebration was to take place the next day at an Iranian restaurant booked by Tooba and Hamed. The family took Zainab back home that evening where the scene was anything but joyous.
    "Everybody, their hearts were bleeding," said Latif. There were concerns about Zainab marrying "a foreigner." Latif tried to lighten the mood by putting on some music and exhorting everyone to dance. "I told her I'm happy and congratulated her."
    More trouble was brewing, however. Ammar had warned Zainab that his family was also unhappy about the marriage. Tooba and Hamed asked Ammar who from his family would be at the celebration. No one, he said. The Shafias, once again, went into crisis mode. Family honour would be at stake when relatives started to ask questions about the groom's family. Tooba told her uncle that Hamed was so upset she feared he would hit someone.
    "Hamed tried to find someone," Ammar recalled. "He asked me to find someone that could act like my family." Hamed even suggested someone could play the role of Ammar's parents for the day. Remarkably, no one seemed concerned about the most glaring absence of all — the bride's father, Mohammad Shafia, who was paying for the wedding but was out of the country and totally out of the picture.
    The celebration was anything but celebratory. It was, in fact, a total disaster. Ammar arrived with another young man of indeterminate status, which didn't appease anyone. Extended Shafia family members began whispering, scandalized by the non-appearance of Ammar's family. Tooba was beside herself with embarrassment. "Tooba was under pressure. She was crying," said Latif.
    Zainab started crying, too, and that was too much for Tooba, who fainted. Zainab told Latif the only reason she was marrying Ammar was to get out of the house, away from the abuse, with a plan to then take her sisters away, too. She said: "Uncle, this boy doesn't have money and he's not handsome. The only reason I'm marrying him is to get my revenge. I will sacrifice myself for my sisters. At least they will get their freedom after me." But the scene with Tooba in the restaurant broke her