From Creeping Sharia:
Bomb threat delays Muslim ‘honor killing’ trial in Canada (video)
Posted on January 27, 2012 by creeping
KINGSTON, Ont. — Police say “security concerns” prompted the sudden evacuation of the courthouse where the Shafia murder trial is underway, about 20 minutes before closing arguments were set to resume Thursday morning.
Staff Sgt. Chris Scott, the officer who headed the Shafia investigation, shouted into the upper lobby at 9:40 a.m., telling people to leave the building immediately. At the time, more than 100 people and about two dozen journalists were lined up, waiting to get into the courtroom.
Scott did not give any indication about the nature of the problem but lawyers leaving the court house said building staff told them a bomb threat had been made.
About 45 minutes after the evacuation began, an officer met with reporters.
“We have some security concerns that have come to light this morning here at the courthouse and as it stands now the court will be closed until at least 1 p.m. and at which time we will re-evaluate whether or not the court will be open for the rest of the day,” said Kingston Police Staff Sgt. Bill Kennedy.
The trial was expected to resume Thursday afternoon.
Kennedy would not provide any more information about the nature of the concern and he would not say what was being done inside the building. He would not say if the concern was related to the Shafia trial.
Kingston Police tactical officers, a canine unit and a number of uniformed officers swarmed over the building during the evacuation, as everyone inside, including lawyers and judges, were herded out onto the front lawn of the two-storey stone building.
During the evacuation, Mohammad Shafia, 58, his second wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, were escorted out of the building by police and driven away from the property in a prisoner van.
The trio each pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.
Sisters Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, and Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, who was Shafia’s first wife in the polygamous family, were found dead on June 30, 2009, inside a car submerged in a shallow canal in Kingston. They had drowned. Investigators could not determine where and how the victims drowned.
Prosecutors allege the victims died in an honour killing, arranged by Shafia, because he believed his daughters had shamed him by dressing in revealing clothes and consorting with boys. Mohammad supported the three girls and wanted a divorce, jurors have heard.
A recent CNN report that refers to this as an Afghan issue, not an Islamic one. h/t Philly:
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