Guilty verdict in Kingston for three members of Shafia family

Three members of an Afghan-born Montreal family are looking at life in prison for at least 25 years for what a judge in Kingston, Ontario calls a despicable crime.

Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya, and their son Hamed killed the family’s three teenage daughters and Shafia’s first wife in a polygamous relationship.

The jury found each defendant guilty of four counts of first-degree murder — offences that carry an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Prosecutors alleged the daughters died because they defied the family’s rules on dress, dating, socializing and going online.

Judge Robert Maranger says the killers were motivated by their “twisted concept of honour.”

The three remained defiant after the verdict, calling the jury’s decision unjust.

The lead investigator in the Shafia murder case, Detective Sergeant Chris Scott, praised Crown lawyers for allowing the four victims to finally be heard.

Scott says the lawyers gave the four women a voice.

But Shafia’s lawyer, Peter Kemp, says he believes comments his client made on wiretaps calling his dead daughters whores may have moved the jury more than physical evidence.

Kemp says Shafia wasn’t convicted for what he did, he was convicted for what he said.

Hamed’s lawyer, Patrick McCann, says he’s disappointed with the verdict and says his client will appeal — and he believes the other two will as well.

Meanwhile, the trial has cast a shadow over Canada’s Islamic community, further tarnishing an image that has not yet fully recovered from 9-11.

But Muslims across the country say the revelations in the Kingston, Ontario, courtroom have illuminated problematic aspects of their culture.

For months, Muslims say they’ve recoiled in horror at testimony alleging three members of the Shafia family plotted the deaths of four others in what prosecutors describe as an attempt to restore family honour.

The crown alleged three teenage Shafia sisters were killed after bringing shame upon the family by dating, shunning traditional religious garb and skipping school.

The fourth victim, Mohammad Shafia’s first wife in a polygamous marriage, allegedly endured years of abuse.

Syed Soharwardy, a Calgary-based imam, says the Shafia case galvanized the community to address uncomfortable issues.

Despite the fact that “honour killings” are explicitly condemned in the Qur’an, Soharwardy says such values sometimes take root in remote regions of Muslim countries where education is limited and scriptural doctrine is misinterpreted.

He says the actions of one misguided family have single-handedly revived stereotypes of violence and intolerance that have dogged the community since 9-11.