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"Stop it!"
—Karim Assaaf to his daughter after she tells him that she'll confess[src]

Karim Assaf is a minor character on How to Get Away with Murder. After years in prison, he was taken on by Annalise's pro-bono clinic, however, Annalise failed to get his case thrown out and he was subsequently deported from the country back to Iraq.

Biography

Early Life

"Karim Assaf A refugee from Iraq who came here 10 years ago with his two children. Cut to a year ago. Karim is driving his two children to school. The police stop him and find over 2 ounces of marijuana. Karim pleads guilty to possession with the intent to distribute and serves 12 months, and now he faces additional legal trouble."
Annalise Keating to her clinic of students.[src]

Around 2005, Karim and his two children, Faiza Assaf and Abdul Assaf came to America from Iraq as refugees. 9 years later, on the way to school with his children, he is stopped by the police when they search his car and find over 2 ounces of marijuana. He is subsequently charged with possession with the intent to distribute which he pleads guilty for due to his public defender advising him to plead guilty in order for him to stay in the country. Though Karim took the blame for possessing marijuana, it was his actually his daughter's. ("We're Good People Now")

Season 3

"Karim Assaf is a good man A dedicated father, a kind neighbor. He steps up when help is needed. He is a leader in his community. But you don't have to take my word for it. Take theirs. The 15 people who've come to attest to the upstanding character of my client. Each person you see here has their own story of his selflessness, generosity, good citizenship, and, above all, his integrity."
Wes Gibbins to the court regarding Karim's character.[src]

Sometime later, Karim is faced with additional legal trouble as he is at risk of being deported back to Iraq. His is appointed to Annalise Keating's pro-bono legal clinic where her students took on his case. Each of the students of the clinic took it in turns talking to Karim where they got him to open up about the charges. Laurel Castillo in particular managed to get him to tell the truth about his daughter being the real owner of the marijuana. In Immigration Court, Wes Gibbins presents Judge Lorraine Huffman with 15 different character witnesses before Michaela Pratt manages to get his previous public defender to admit to the possible ineffective counsel. They then use this to get the District Attorney's Office to drop the charge to a misdemeanor and present it to the Judge. This isn't enough, however, to convince the Judge to dismiss the deportation. Outside court, Karim's daughter, Faiza Assaf begs him to allow her to confess but he refuses as it would result in her deportation. ("We're Good People Now")

Trivia

  • The chances of Annalise winning his case were very slim; around 3% of his kind of cases are acutally won.

Appearances

Season 3
"We're Good People Now" "There Are Worse Things Than Murder" "Always Bet Black" "Don't Tell Annalise"
"It's About Frank" "Is Someone Really Dead?" "Call It Mother's Intuition" "No More Blood"
"Who's Dead?" "We're Bad People" "Not Everything's About Annalise" "Go Cry Somewhere Else"
"It's War" "He Made a Terrible Mistake" "Wes"

References

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