Zaynab Khadr
Encyclopedia
The eldest child of the Khadr family
, Zaynab Khadr (in Arabic
زينب خضر) was born in Canada
to Maha el-Samnah and Ahmed Khadr.
Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children.
She has since been a stalwart defender of the family's legal rights to remain in Canada, and for her imprisoned brothers Abdullah
and Omar
.
In July 1995, Ahmed arranged for the 15-year old Zaynab to marry an Egyptian man named Khalid Abdullah
in December, and Maha began preparing an apartment for the couple in the family's house.
On November 19 Ayman al-Zawahiri
bombed the Egyptian Embassy
in Pakistan, and Zaynab's fiancee went into hiding, named as one of the conspirators. When police arrived to arrest her father on suspicion of involvement eight days later, Zaynab took her father's rifle and held it over her head screaming, while her mother barricaded the door.
Zaynab recalled celebrating the engagement of Umayma al-Zawahiri at her family's house for an all-day party, and her father Ayman al-Zawahiri
knocking softly at Umayma's door asking the two girls to please keep their singing and partying quiet as it was nighttime.
Her fiance re-surfaced in Tehran
in October 1997, and contacted the family to try to re-schedule the wedding he had missed. Ahmed agreed to bring his family on a long vacation culminating in the city for a farewell to the reluctant Zaynab as she started a new life with Abdullah.
Six months after the couple began living in a rented Tehran apartment, Abdullah phoned his father-in-law to report that Zaynab was inconsolable at being separated from her family, and the marriage was not working out. She returned to live with her family.
simply informed all interested parties about the open invitation to their upcoming wedding. The couple moved into a separate wing of the Khadr household.
The following year, Zaynab and her mother returned to Canada for several months late in her pregnancy, and gave birth to a daughter, named Safia. After returning to Afghanistan and introducing her new child to Rabiyah Hutchinson, Zaynab was advised to have a doctor look into her daughter's enlarged cranium. Safia was diagnosed with hydrocephalus
and required surgery, which Zaynab decided would be better performed at a Canadian hospital. Her husband disagreed, and insisted that a hospital in Lahore
would be just as effective. When Zaynab insisted on taking her daughter home to Canada, al-Bahr left the household permanently.
In January 2002, she took Abdulkareem and Safia to Lahore
for a stay at the hospital, where her daughter needed medical attention. Abdullah later joined them, since he required surgery to remove cartilage
from his nose.
In 2003, Zaynab, her daughter and her mother stayed at a house in Birmal, Pakistan for two days, before their hosts grew wary of American jets overhead, and they moved further into the mountains of Waziristan
.
Zaynab lived in a rented apartment with her daughter and younger sister in Islamabad, Pakistan, and although her passport was revoked by the Canadian High Commission in Pakistan, she returned to Canada on February 17, 2005 to be with her mother, and help the legal defence teams of her brothers Abdullah Khadr
and Omar Khadr
. Zaynab and her mother are both on passport "control" lists, meaning they will no longer be issued Canadian passports due to the frequency with which they reported losing their passports since 1999.
When she returned to Canada, security officials, including Konrad Shourie
, met her at the airport bearing a search warrant
stating that "Zaynab Khadr has willingly participated and contributed both directly and indirectly towards enhancing the ability of Al Qaeda", and seized her laptop
, DVD
s, audiocassettes, diary and other files.
They claimed that they were able to determine the present locations of multiple al-Qaeda veterans, though were not able to produce any evidence to charge her. Zaynab offered the defence that she had purchased the computer second-hand seven months before her trip.
After the expiry of the three-month limit on holding the items, the RCMP was granted a one-year extension on June 18.
On October 5, 2009, Isabel Teotonio, writing in the Toronto Star
, while reporting on her brother Abdullah's extradition hearing, asserted that Canadian officials had seized a hard drive that had belonged to her father.
Although she has indicated a desire to one day return to Pakistan, her Canadian passport
remains withheld, rendering her unable to leave the country.
In 2004, Zaynab appeared in a documentary entitled Son of al Qaeda
, during which she made the following comment concerning the September 11th attacks;
Most news stories arising from the documentary stated only that she had supported the attacks, and solidified public sentiment against the family.
Zaynab has been involved in arranging support for other Canadians accused of militant actions in the War on Terror
, notably attending the bail hearings and preliminaries
for the accused men and youths arrested in Toronto
in 2006. Her presence has caused a stir in the media, while she maintains that many of the accused were friends of the family.
In October 2008, Zaynab began an 18-day hunger strike
on Parliament Hill
where she hoped to draw attention to the government's inaction on bringing her brother back to face trial in Canada.
Khadr family
The Khadr family is a Canadian family noted for their ties to Osama bin Laden and alleged connections to al Qaeda. The family maintains that they have not broken any Canadian laws, and they have never been charged with any crimes by Canadian authorities.The Khadr family comprises:*The father,...
, Zaynab Khadr (in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
زينب خضر) was born in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
to Maha el-Samnah and Ahmed Khadr.
Following the 1992 injury that left Ahmed disabled, Zaynab became a "second mother" to the younger children.
She has since been a stalwart defender of the family's legal rights to remain in Canada, and for her imprisoned brothers Abdullah
Abdullah Khadr
Abdullah Ahmed Khadr is the oldest son of Ahmed Khadr and brother of Omar Khadr who has been charged with war crimes before the Guantanamo military commission....
and Omar
Omar Khadr
Omar Ahmed Khadr is a Canadian child soldier and one of the juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was convicted of five charges under the United States Military Commissions Act of 2009 including murder in violation of the law of war and providing material support for terrorism,...
.
Life
Khalid Abdullah (Egyptian)
Khalid Abdullah, a Sudanese-Egyptian, was the fiancee of Canadian Zaynab Khadr, and a suspect in the 1996 attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan.In July 1995, Ahmed Khadr arranged for his daughter Zaynab to marry Abdullah in December,...
in December, and Maha began preparing an apartment for the couple in the family's house.
On November 19 Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life...
bombed the Egyptian Embassy
Attack on the Egyptian Embassy in Pakistan
Carried out by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the November 19 1995 attack on the Egyptian embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan was retaliation against the diplomatic staffers who were accused of gathering intelligence on Jihad factions inside Pakistan...
in Pakistan, and Zaynab's fiancee went into hiding, named as one of the conspirators. When police arrived to arrest her father on suspicion of involvement eight days later, Zaynab took her father's rifle and held it over her head screaming, while her mother barricaded the door.
Zaynab recalled celebrating the engagement of Umayma al-Zawahiri at her family's house for an all-day party, and her father Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman al-Zawahiri
Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri is an Egyptian physician, Islamic theologian and current leader of al-Qaeda. He was previously the second and last "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, having succeeded Abbud al-Zumar in the latter role when Egyptian authorities sentenced al-Zumar to life...
knocking softly at Umayma's door asking the two girls to please keep their singing and partying quiet as it was nighttime.
Her fiance re-surfaced in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
in October 1997, and contacted the family to try to re-schedule the wedding he had missed. Ahmed agreed to bring his family on a long vacation culminating in the city for a farewell to the reluctant Zaynab as she started a new life with Abdullah.
Six months after the couple began living in a rented Tehran apartment, Abdullah phoned his father-in-law to report that Zaynab was inconsolable at being separated from her family, and the marriage was not working out. She returned to live with her family.
Second marriage
In 1999, Zaynab was introduced to the Yemeni Yacoub al-Bahr, who had fought in Bosnia although better-known as a wedding singer in Kabul. Her father asked the boys of the family to vote on whether he should give his consent for the two to marry, and did so after Abdurahman and Kareem voiced their enthusiasm - while Omar and Abdullah abstained. The wedding was in Kabul, and both al-Zawahiri and bin Laden attended, although Zaynab later explained that nobody was individually invited, and that word of mouthWord of mouth
Word of mouth, or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to person by oral communication. Storytelling is the oldest form of word-of-mouth communication where one person tells others of something, whether a real event or something made up. Oral tradition is cultural material and...
simply informed all interested parties about the open invitation to their upcoming wedding. The couple moved into a separate wing of the Khadr household.
The following year, Zaynab and her mother returned to Canada for several months late in her pregnancy, and gave birth to a daughter, named Safia. After returning to Afghanistan and introducing her new child to Rabiyah Hutchinson, Zaynab was advised to have a doctor look into her daughter's enlarged cranium. Safia was diagnosed with hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus , also known as "water in the brain," is a medical condition in which there is an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the ventricles, or cavities, of the brain. This may cause increased intracranial pressure inside the skull and progressive enlargement of the head,...
and required surgery, which Zaynab decided would be better performed at a Canadian hospital. Her husband disagreed, and insisted that a hospital in Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
would be just as effective. When Zaynab insisted on taking her daughter home to Canada, al-Bahr left the household permanently.
Life in Post-invasion Afghanistan
In late 2001, Zaynab's father ran into al-Bahr in Kabul and told him that he should either return to his wife and daughter, or consent to a divorce. After receiving written reassurance from Zaynab that she would not seek any form of restitution, he agreed to a formal divorce.In January 2002, she took Abdulkareem and Safia to Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
for a stay at the hospital, where her daughter needed medical attention. Abdullah later joined them, since he required surgery to remove cartilage
Cartilage
Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...
from his nose.
In 2003, Zaynab, her daughter and her mother stayed at a house in Birmal, Pakistan for two days, before their hosts grew wary of American jets overhead, and they moved further into the mountains of Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
.
Permanent return to Canada
Abdullah Khadr
Abdullah Ahmed Khadr is the oldest son of Ahmed Khadr and brother of Omar Khadr who has been charged with war crimes before the Guantanamo military commission....
and Omar Khadr
Omar Khadr
Omar Ahmed Khadr is a Canadian child soldier and one of the juveniles held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He was convicted of five charges under the United States Military Commissions Act of 2009 including murder in violation of the law of war and providing material support for terrorism,...
. Zaynab and her mother are both on passport "control" lists, meaning they will no longer be issued Canadian passports due to the frequency with which they reported losing their passports since 1999.
When she returned to Canada, security officials, including Konrad Shourie
Konrad Shourie
Sgt. Konrad Lionel Shourie is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer assigned to the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams.On December 5, 2002, while attached to the Oshawa RCMP branch, he was one of three Canadian police officers awarded the Medal of Bravery for their role in the UN...
, met her at the airport bearing a search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....
stating that "Zaynab Khadr has willingly participated and contributed both directly and indirectly towards enhancing the ability of Al Qaeda", and seized her laptop
Laptop
A laptop, also called a notebook, is a personal computer for mobile use. A laptop integrates most of the typical components of a desktop computer, including a display, a keyboard, a pointing device and speakers into a single unit...
, DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s, audiocassettes, diary and other files.
They claimed that they were able to determine the present locations of multiple al-Qaeda veterans, though were not able to produce any evidence to charge her. Zaynab offered the defence that she had purchased the computer second-hand seven months before her trip.
After the expiry of the three-month limit on holding the items, the RCMP was granted a one-year extension on June 18.
On October 5, 2009, Isabel Teotonio, writing in the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
, while reporting on her brother Abdullah's extradition hearing, asserted that Canadian officials had seized a hard drive that had belonged to her father.
Although she has indicated a desire to one day return to Pakistan, her Canadian passport
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
remains withheld, rendering her unable to leave the country.
Advocacy
Son of al Qaeda
Son of al Qaeda is a documentary about Abdurahman Khadr, a young Canadian whose father was a senior associate of Osama bin Laden, produced by Terence McKenna, an independent Canadian producer....
, during which she made the following comment concerning the September 11th attacks;
Most news stories arising from the documentary stated only that she had supported the attacks, and solidified public sentiment against the family.
Zaynab has been involved in arranging support for other Canadians accused of militant actions in the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
, notably attending the bail hearings and preliminaries
Preliminary hearing
Within some criminal justice systems, a preliminary hearing is a proceeding, after a criminal complaint has been filed by the prosecutor, to determine whether there is enough evidence to require a trial...
for the accused men and youths arrested in Toronto
2006 Toronto terrorism case
The 2006 Ontario terrorism case refers to the plotting of a series of attacks against targets in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the June 2, 2006, counter-terrorism raids in and around the Greater Toronto Area that resulted in the arrest of 18 people found to be Al-Qaeda members of an Islamic...
in 2006. Her presence has caused a stir in the media, while she maintains that many of the accused were friends of the family.
In October 2008, Zaynab began an 18-day hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
on Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
where she hoped to draw attention to the government's inaction on bringing her brother back to face trial in Canada.