Afghan Embassy in Ottawa calls Shafia murders a ‘crime against humanity’

TORONTO – The Afghan Embassy in Ottawa is condemning the murders of four members of a Montreal family originally from Afghanistan.

In a statement released Tuesday, the embassy calls the deaths of the three teenaged sisters and their father’s first wife “a heinous crime against humanity.”

The embassy says this kind of crime is not part of Afghan or Islamic culture and “is not acceptable in any way.”

Hamed Shafia, 21, and his parents Mohammad Shafia, 58, and Tooba Yahya, 42, were each found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder on Sunday after a three-month trial.

Hamed Shafia’s lawyer says his client has filed notice to appeal his conviction.

The bodies of sisters Zainab, Sahar and Geeti Shafia, along with Rona Amir Mohammad – Mohammad’s first wife in a polygamous marriage – were found in a car at the bottom of a Kingston, Ont., canal in June 2009.

During the trial, the Crown alleged the murders were carried out to restore honour to the family after the daughters tried to resist their parents’ strict control.

“There is nothing honourable about violence against anyone, especially against innocent women. Honour killing is unacceptable in (the) Afghanistan Constitution and its justice system,” the statement reads.

“May Allah bless the souls of these innocent victims and grant them with the highest levels of paradise.”