A Calgary father who abducted his daughter and hid her with family in Iraq in order to alienate the girl from her mother must surrender to police after the Alberta Court of Appeal increased his sentence from just over two years to eight years in prison.

Ali Al Aazawi was convicted in May 2021 of abduction in contravention of a court order.

In June 2018, Zainab Mahdi initially consented to her then-10-year-old daughter Zahraa travelling to Egypt, but Al Aazawi was to return the girl in September.

Instead, he breached their court-ordered parenting agreement and left the child in Iraq so that he could have complete control over her education.

'Ongoing and life-altering situation'

On Tuesday, Alberta's top court agreed with prosecutor Tom Spark and described Al Aazawi's actions as "cruel and reprehensible" and found the trial judge did not consider all aggravating factors when imposing the two-year sentence.

"Not many circumstances are worse than the ongoing and life-altering situation Mr. Al Aazawi imposed upon [Zahraa] and her mother," reads part of the court's 50-page decision.

"[Al Aazawi] did not just ignore court orders; from the outset, he sought by his own means to reverse a parenting order, including by alienating [Zahraa] from her mother and coercing Ms. Mahdi to give up her parental rights."

Al Aazawi's lawyer, Balfour Der, argued for a sentence less than two years, but his appeal was dismissed.

Mahdi has not seen her daughter in more than four years, and the child has since been persuaded to believe she is better off in Iraq and does not want to see her mother.

Brainwashing

When Zahraa first arrived in Iraq in 2018, she sent text messages to her mother that showed she was scared and wanted to come home.

In Iraq, Al Aazawi has two wives and other family members.

By 2021, the girl did not want to return, appearing to have been brainwashed, expressing what the judge described as "anger and bitterness" toward her mother.

In their 2018 communications, Zahraa told her mother that her father had made plans for her to remain in Iraq for five years so she could attend school and learn the local culture and religion.

Mother hospitalized for depression

While Al Aazawi was still in Iraq with Zahraa, police recorded a conversation between him and his ex-wife. During that conversation, he said he would allow his daughter to return on the condition that he have sole custody of Zahraa.

The day after police recorded that conversation, Al Aazawi flew back to Canada without his daughter. Police learned of his travel plans and arrested him at the Toronto airport.

The mother has suffered from depression since her daughter's abduction to the point that she has been hospitalized.

Mahdi has not seen her daughter in more than four years and has said that if she'd known that June 2018 was the last time she would see Zahraa, she'd prefer to die.