Zaynab Khadr - Second Marriage

Second Marriage

In 1999, Zaynab was introduced to the Yemeni Yacoub al-Bahr, who had fought in Bosnia although better-known as a wedding singer in Kabul. Her father asked the boys of the family to vote on whether he should give his consent for the two to marry, and did so after Abdurahman and Kareem voiced their enthusiasm - while Omar and Abdullah abstained. The wedding was in Kabul, and both al-Zawahiri and bin Laden attended, although Zaynab later explained that nobody was individually invited, and that word of mouth simply informed all interested parties about the open invitation to their upcoming wedding. The couple moved into a separate wing of the Khadr household.

The following year, Zaynab and her mother returned to Canada for several months late in her pregnancy, and gave birth to a daughter, named Safia. After returning to Afghanistan and introducing her new child to Rabiyah Hutchinson, Zaynab was advised to have a doctor look into her daughter's enlarged cranium. Safia was diagnosed with hydrocephalus and required surgery, which Zaynab decided would be better performed at a Canadian hospital. Her husband disagreed, and insisted that a hospital in Lahore would be just as effective. When Zaynab insisted on taking her daughter home to Canada, al-Bahr left the household permanently.