Fundraiser for family’s legal fees tops $200,000
An online fundraiser for the legal expenses of Umar Zameer, the man acquitted of intentionally killing Const. Jeffrey Northrup, has surpassed its $200,000 goal.
In the 48 hours since Zameer was acquitted, thousands of people have raised the vast majority of his family’s target to pay for mounting legal costs. The GoFundMe — organized by Zameer’s wife, Aaida Shaikh, shortly after his arrest in 2021 — had just $30,000 in donations before Sunday’s verdict.
By Tuesday afternoon, it had raised more than $207,000, and counting. “It’s heartwarming to see the outpouring of support for Umar and Aaida,” Nader Hasan, one of Zameer’s two lawyers, said by email.
“It’s wonderful that they now get to see the best of Canada and Canadians after having been through so much.”
Speaking to the Star on Monday, Zameer recalled the moment the jury cleared his name and a Toronto judge apologized to him directly. “I couldn’t breathe,” he said. “It was so, so, overwhelming.”
Hearing the words “not guilty,” left his wife, Shaikh, in disbelief — “I couldn’t believe it that there are people who believe in our truth.”
Observers suggest Zameer and his family would’ve racked up considerable legal fees in the three years since he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after he ran Northrup over with his car in the parking lot below Nathan Phillips Square on July 2, 2021.
Zameer came to Canada with his family in 2019 and was jailed after his arrest until he was granted bail in September 2021. His family “moved heaven and earth” to support the bail application, transferring their assets — “substantially all of our collective worth” — into the country, his sister Saima Zamir wrote in an affidavit.
In his interview with the Star, Zameer said even though he’s hopeful for the future, he still regrets what happened that night; he said he can’t stop thinking about Northrup’s family, “about the kids especially.”
‘‘ It’s wonderful that they now get to see the best of Canada and Canadians after having been through so much.
NADER HASAN ONE OF UMAR ZAMEER’S LAWYERS