Canada: Too Many Honor Killings

8 May 2009
National Post
BY NECO COCKBURN

Brother shot couple in honour killing, jury told


O T TAWA • A 23-year-old Afghan-Canadian shot his younger sister and her fiancé to death in a so-called honour killing rooted in anger over their engagement, a jury heard during the first day of Hasibullah Sadiqi’s murder trial.

During his opening statements, assistant Crown attorney Mark Moors told the court Mr. Sadiqi shot his 20-year-old sister, Khatera, and her fiancé, Feroz Mangal, with a .44 Magnum revolver while they sat in a parked car at an Ottawa shopping plaza just before 1 a.m. on Sept. 19, 2006.

Mr. Sadiqi’s defence lawyers have indicated they will not dispute their client was responsible for the killings, but will argue he is not guilty of murder because he was provoked.

Footage played at the trial shows a series of flashes in the dark in the rainy shopping plaza’s parking lot, where Khatera Sadiqi would be found barely breathing, slumped against her fiancé in a car.

There are four flashes on the video footage caught by a bank’s ATM camera, a pause as a car’s headlights sweep a nearby area, then another flash — all within 37 seconds.

Mr. Sadiqi, a Canadian of Afghan descent, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was upset because his sister got engaged without their father’s permission and had moved in with Mr. Mangal’s family, Mr. Moors told the jury.

The trial is expected to hear that Mr. Sadiqi believed his sister had brought dishonour upon the Sadiqi name, Mr. Moors said. A witness is expected to testify that Mr. Sadiqi said after the killing that he believed his sister would be a martyr and go to paradise, he added.

Although Mr. Sadiqi came to Canada when he was very young, he had a “profound attachment” to his heritage, shaping his views of relationships between men and women, Mr. Moors said. The Crown intends to lead expert testimony regarding honour killings, he said.

The defence will not dispute the fact that Mr. Sadiqi was responsible for the killings. Natasha Calvinho, one of Mr. Sadiqi’s lawyers, told the jury that the case centres on the classification of the homicides.

By the end of the trial, the defence is expected to advance the argument of provocation, which could reduce a murder charge to manslaughter if certain conditions are met, Ms. Calvinho said.
The Crown, meanwhile, will try to prove that Mr. Sadiqi’s actions were planned and deliberate.

Khatera Sadiqi was shot in the head and torso, while Mr. Mangal was shot in the neck and chest, Mr. Moors said. She was pronounced dead at the scene, while Mr. Mangal was taken off life support 10 days later. Mr. Moors said evidence will show that Khatera Sadiqi had driven her brother and Mr. Mangal back to the parking lot after a night out for dinner and a movie with friends. It was the first time she and her brother had made plans to see each other since she and Mr. Mangal got engaged eight months earlier, Mr. Moors said.

Expected evidence will indicate Mr. Sadiqi had intended to give his sister and her fiancé a chance to acknowledge that what they had done was wrong, he added.

One witness is also expected to testify about instant messages with Ms. Sadiqi months earlier in which he had warned her of her brother’s anger and urged her to leave town, Mr. Moors said. Ms. Calvinho said that witness is expected to say he exaggerated.

Mr. Sadiqi, she said, will testify at the trial. He is expected to talk about his relationship with his sister and his love for her, Ms. Calvinho said. Mr. Sadiqi will not echo expected testimony about an abusive side to his father, she said.

Mr. Sadiqi is expected to say that he had not intentionally brought the gun, but it had been in his car for weeks as he was holding it, and other items including ammunition, for a friend, who, unlike Mr. Sadiqi, has a criminal record, Ms. Calvinho said.

Yesterday, testimony was heard from Ottawa police officers who arrived first at the scene — one of whom said Ms. Sadiqi was breathing sporadically before paramedics arrived and she was pronounced dead — along with an officer who noted that items such as press clippings about Afghanistan and a flag were among items seen in Mr. Sadiqi’s apartment.






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