Free Honour on Trial by Paul Schliesmann Page A

resolve.
    "Zainab, she threw herself on the chest of her mom and was crying," Latif recalled. "She said, 'I reject this one. I will reject this boy.'"
    By now, the mullah who had married the couple was also asking why there was so much confusion. They explained that Zainab wanted to annul the marriage. He agreed to undo it, but by then Ammar was nowhere to be found. Zainab had already told him she couldn't go through with the marriage.
    "She was crying," Ammar recalled. "I just told her I completely respect [it] if that's what you want. We'll break off the marriage. I just left."
    This created more confusion. If the marriage was to be annulled, the groom had to be brought back to the restaurant. Hamed jumped in the family car and went searching for him. Hamed wasn't about to let this opportunity pass — a chance to get rid of Ammar, the Pakistani interloper, once and for all.
    Hamed found Ammar at a subway station and dragged him back to the restaurant where the mullah presided over the annulment of the brief marriage. To make it official, Ammar and Zainab merely had to repeat the word "divorce" three times. They did and it was all over.
    Food was served but no one had an appetite. Family gathered at the Shafia home to console Tooba. Eventually, the food went to the Hyderis and everyone went there to eat. During the bitter feast, Hussain Hyderi arrived home, oblivious to the mayhem that had just occurred. According to Latif, Tooba said to Hussain that it was he who should have started a relationship with Zainab. Hussain told his cousin he would consider it, but only if Zainab were agreeable. "I have to talk to the girl personally. If we agree, both of us, I will marry her," Latif recalled his son saying.
    A couple of days later, Latif and Hussain went to the Shafias. "He's a shy boy. He's not a boy who went out with the girls," said Latif.
    Hamed was clearly the Shafia power broker in his father's absence, announcing that he was prepared to start the engagement process. The family went outside so Zainab and Hussain could talk. After about 20 minutes, the young couple announced that the engagement could move ahead. No one really knows what was going on in Zainab's mind at this point. Did she really want to marry her cousin Hussain, or was this just another way for her to get out of her father's house with a more acceptable husband?
    There was only one thing left to do: the fathers, Mohammad and Latif, would talk. Latif got Mohammad's phone number from Hamed so he could make the call to Dubai. The response wasn't what Latif had expected.

Sahar and Geeti…
    IN February 2009, troubles flared up once more at Antoine-de Saint-Exupéry school for Geeti and Sahar. This time, Vice-principal Nathalie Laramée was in charge of their files. Laramée had taught a class for immigrant children coming to Canada who needed to study in French. She knew four of the seven Shafia children — Sahar, Geeti, and two other siblings who cannot be identified because of an ongoing court ban.
    The school had been trying to set up a meeting with Tooba and Mohammad to discuss the girls' behaviour, particularly their chronic lateness and absenteeism. When she met with Laramée, Tooba said she was at a loss as to what to do with the girls.
    "The mother asked me to help her out," said Laramée. The vice-principal warned Tooba that child protection workers would be called again if there was no change. Attendance improved for a couple of months.
    By April, the situation had deteriorated once more with Zainab's disappearance. A family conference took place at the school involving Mohammad, Tooba, Sahar, Geeti, and the younger brother. As well as the girls' usual absenteeism, the brother wasn't completing his homework. Laramée recalled Mohammad Shafia's anger.
    "The father was speaking very loudly in my office and saying, 'What can we do? What can we do?'" said Laramée. The children were interpreting for their father but she noticed he