CALGARY It’s been more than three years since Zainab Mahdi saw her 13-year-old daughter Zahraa Al Aazawi. Mahdi, who has full custody of her daughter, gave her ex-husband legal consent, to go on vacation with Zahraa to Egypt in 2018. The then 11-year-old was supposed to return to Canada on September 5, but that never happened. Ali Al Aazawi, 38, took their daughter to Iraq instead where she is currently staying with his family. These are members she only met when she arrived three years ago. “It’s a nightmare,” said Mahdi. “There are no words to explain it. Your daughter is alive but you can’t see her and you can’t talk to her.”
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The Calgary father who took his daughter to Iraq and left her there did so to deprive her mother of her lawful care, a judge ruled Tuesday.
But provincial court Judge Greg Stirling said the prosecution failed to prove the more serious charge against Ali Al Aazawi, that he committed an international kidnapping.
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Stirling said the then-10-year-old victim was mature enough to consent to her father taking her out of the country and ultimately to his homeland in the Middle East.
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Short of dragging his daughter through the streets of Baghdad, a Calgary father had no choice but to leave her in Iraq, his lawyer told an international kidnapping trial Tuesday.
Defence counsel Balfour Der said Ali Al Aazawi can’t be held legally responsible for the fact his then-11-year-old daughter, Zahraa, refused to return to Canada, as scheduled, in September 2018.
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The Criminal Code section dealing with international kidnapping “is silent as to how to force an unwilling child to come back home,” Der told provincial court Judge Greg Stirling.
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Short of dragging his daughter through the streets of Baghdad, a Calgary father had no choice but to leave her in Iraq, his lawyer told an international kidnapping trial Tuesday.
Defence counsel Balfour Der said Ali Al Aazawi can’t be held legally responsible for the fact his then-11-year-old daughter, Zahraa, refused to return to Canada, as scheduled, in September 2018.
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Try refreshing your browser, or Father could not force daughter to return from Iraq, defence lawyer tells international kidnapping trial Back to video
The Criminal Code section dealing with international kidnapping “is silent as to how to force an unwilling child to come back home,” Der told provincial court Judge Greg Stirling.