Abdul Karim (son of Ahcene Zemiri)

Abdul Karim (son of Ahcene Zemiri)

Ahcene Zemiri

Ahcene (Hacen) Zemiri is married with one son, Abdul Karim, who is was born in June 2002. Abdul Karim has not seen his father and his father has not seen him yet except in photographs.

Ahcene Zemiri was resident in Canada from 1994 to 2001 and he married Karina Zemiri (born and brought up in Canada) in 1996. In 2001, the couple left Canada for Afghanistan in order to undertake relief projects for Afghan women and orphans.

After the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, Arabs were hunted in all parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, whether they were fighters or relief workers. Ahcene asked his wife, Karina, in November 2001, to leave Afghanistan for her own safety and especially since she was two months pregnant with their first child.

Karina left Afghanistan and returned to Canada in February 2002, unable to obtain a visa to travel to her husband's family in Algeria. She gave birth to her son, Abdul Karim, in June 2002, still with no news of her husband. One month later, on 15 July 2002, she received a letter from her husband stamped Guantanamo Bay.

She has petitioned (unsuccessfully) for her husband's plight in both her native Canada and via the Algerian Embassies. Neither the Canadian nor the Algerian Governments want to get involved. The Algerian Government especially, has shown a very cold hearted response to the affair.

Karina Zemiri rests her hope in Allah, then whatever she is able to do, in order to alleviate the plight of her husband so that she may join him once again and he may see his innocent son, who has been deprived of seeing his father due to America's illegal 'War Against Terror' campaign.