Hamed Shafia granted escorted absence from prison

Hamed Shafia, who is serving a life sentence for the 2009 murders of three sisters and another woman, has been granted an escorted absence from a medium-security prison. A Parole Board of Canada panel approved the decision to allow Shafia a brief visit to a minimum-security facility.

The panel rejected a separate request for an escorted absence to visit a mosque. While board members noted that Shafia has made progress and gained insight into his past behavior, they emphasized that a gradual approach is necessary as more work remains.

Shafia and his parents were convicted in 2012 of four counts of first-degree murder. The victims—Zainab, Sahar, Geeti, and Rona Amir Mohammad—were found in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in Kingston, Ontario. The killings were described by the trial judge as being motivated by a “twisted concept of honour.”