User:Geo Swan/working/Zaynab Khadr

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Zaynab Khadr is the eldest of the six children of Ahmed Said Khadr and Maha Elsamnah. Her parents were both naturalized Canadians, originally from Egypt and Palestine. Zaynab, like all her siblings, was born in Canada, and is a Canadian citizen.

Main article: Khadr family

Zaynab was interviewed, together with her mother, for the documentary Son of al Qaeda in 2004.

1 Life prior to 9-11
2 September 11, 2001 to Zaynab's return to Canada
3 Return to Canada
4 Abdullah Khadr's extradition hearings
5 17 arrests
6 References

[edit] Life prior to 9-11

Zaynab's father spent much of her life in Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he worked as a manager of aid projects, first for Human Concern International, and later for a charity he set up, Health and Education Project International. His wife and children spent part of their lives in Canada, and part of their lives overseas.

In 1995 Ahmed was arrested by Pakistani security officials, who accused him of financing a terrorist bombing. During an official visit he made to Pakistan in 1996, Maha, with her children in tow, buttonholed Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and asked him to intervene and get her husband released from Pakistani custody. She described to him that her busband was an innocent aid worker, accidentally swept up in an counter-terrorism sweep. Chretien did intervene, and Ahmed was released.

The family seems to have settled in Afghanistan upon Ahmed's release. According to the documentary Son of al Qaeda the family lived, for a time, in Osama bin Laden's compound. According to the documentary Osama attended Zaynab's wedding there.

Ahmed has been described as both "an associate" of Osama bin Laden, and as a "lieutenant" of Osama bin Laden.

[edit] September 11, 2001 to Zaynab's return to Canada

Little is known of most of where most of the Khadr family spent 2002 and 2003.

Abdurahman Khadr, the third oldest child, described helping American security officials during 2002 and 2003.

Omar Khadr, the fourth oldest child, was injured during a skirmish with American forces in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002.^[1] It is alleged that a grenade Omar threw killed Sergeant Christopher Speer, a green beret. Omar was promptly sent to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba, where he was held in the adult portion of the prison, even though he was only fifteen when he was captured. Omar was charged before a military commission on November 8, 2005.

Ahmed, and the fifth oldest child, Abdul Karim Khadr, were involved in another skirmish in late 2003, where Abdul Karim was paralyzed and Ahmed was killed.

Zaynab and her mother Maha were interviewed together, in Pakistan, for the documentary Son of Al Qaeda in early 2004. When the documentary was broadcast the interview stirred controversy. Commentators criticized Zaynab and Maha for appearing sympathetic to al Qaeda. Maha showed the bloodstained, bullet-riddled vest Ahmed was wearing when he was killed -- "martyred".

Zaynab defended Omar's actions during the skirmish where he was captured, equating Omar's alleged killing of Sergeant Speer with the Americans killing of all his companions.

[edit] Return to Canada

Maha returned to Canada with Abdul Karim in 2004.

Zaynab, her baby sister, and her child, returned to Canada on February 17, 2005. Canadian security officials seized her papers, her tapes and CDs, and her laptop computer.^[2] According to the Toronto Star:

"Zaynab was met at the airport by RCMP officers when she returned to Toronto in February 2005, and the Mounties seized her luggage. As part of the sworn information used to obtain a search warrant for the 26-year-old's possessions, an RCMP investigator wrote, "I believe that Zaynab Khadr has willingly participated and contributed both directly and indirectly towards enhancing the ability of Al Qaeda to facilitate its criminal activities." The allegations remain unproven and Khadr has never been charged either in Canada or abroad."

In an interview in the Toronto Star, shortly after her arrival, she offered her email address, and invited Canadians to write to her.

Like the rest of her family the Canadian government has decided they will not issue her a passport.

On June 18, 2005 the RCMP sought a one year extension, in order to further analyze her belongings.^[3]^[4]

[edit] Abdullah Khadr's extradition hearings

Abdullah Khadr, the second oldest sibling, returned to Canada from 14 months of "investigative detention" in Pakistan in early December 2005. After two weeks of freedom he was arrested by the RCMP at the request of American prosecutors. The USA wants to extradite Abdullah to the USA to stand trial for selling arms to terrorists.

Zaynab did not attend Abdullah's first extradition hearings.

[edit] 17 arrests

Canadian security officials arrested 17 muslim men from the Greater Toronto Area in June 2006. The men are alleged to have been inspired by al Qaeda, and had started to plot attacks in Canada.

Zaynab's attendance at the hearings of these men is frequently mentioned in press coverage of the hearings.^[2]