Mahdi’s ex-husband, Ali Farhan Al Aazawi, has been convicted of kidnapping the girl, taking her from Calgary to Iraq.
“She is the apple of my eye,” said an emotional Mahdi.
“Especially (during) school and Christmas and Halloween.  All seasons really dig into my heart.  It’s hard.
“There are no words (that) can explain my pain.”
Al Azawi’s sentence was extended by an appeals court this week to eight years after the Crown suggested the sentencing judge erred when they considered mitigating and aggravating evidence in the case.
Judge Thomas Wakeling accepted the prosecution’s appeal.
Wakeling said Al Aazawi’s actions involving his daughter had caused “irreparable” damage to her and her mother.
“There is no number of years that will bring my child back and no number of years can compensate for the pain of loss,” Madhi said.
“I won’t see justice served until I see my daughter back in my arms.”
In 2018, Al Aazawi told the mother of his then 11-year-old daughter that he was going on holiday with the girl to Egypt.
He returned to Canada without her.
His lawyer, Balfour Der, says Al Aazawi surrendered Wednesday morning to police to complete his sentence.
“It was a big penalty they gave him,” he said.
“It’s a big number, eight years.  I don’t know if there has ever been such a high incidence in Alberta.  It’s hard to even find such high cases from other provinces.”
The maximum sentence for this type of crime is 10 years.
Al Azawi was initially sentenced to 28 months in prison, which was reduced to 342 days after pre-trial detention and “restrictive bail conditions” were taken into account.
Lawyer Balfour Der says Ali Farhan Al Aazawi surrendered to police on Wednesday morning.
Derr says his client has made efforts to bring his daughter back to Canada, but she won’t listen.
“The court penalized my client for getting the ball rolling and treated it as an ongoing, ongoing violation, even though it’s out of his control,” Der said.
“The girl refuses to come back despite numerous appeals made by her father, made by me, family members, the police, everyone.  That girl would sooner stay there than go back to Canada.”
While previous conversations between Zahraa and her mother, as described in court documents, indicated that the girl was afraid and wanted to return home, until May 2019 she “denied that she was abducted.”
“In September 2020, one week before Mr. Al Azawi’s trial began, Zahraa called Ms. Mahdi,” court documents state.
“One of Mr Al Aazawi’s brothers was with Zahraa.  She said she did not recognize Ms Madhi as her mother and asked never to call her again.  Zahraa said she only wanted her father and it was up to her to return to Canada.”
Zahra has not returned to Canada.
CTV News reached out to Global Affairs for comment, which issued the following statement:
“Child abductions are some of the most difficult consular situations the Government of Canada responds to and are a profoundly difficult and devastating experience for both the children and their families.  Global Affairs Canada is aware of this case.  Officials have been in contact with the family in an effort to facilitate a return to Canada and will continue to provide consular services as needed.  Due to the provisions of the Privacy Act, no further information can be released.”