U.K. court finds parents guilty in honor killing

File photos dated April 8, 2004 of Iftikhar and Faranza Ahmed (left, center), the parents of suspected honor killing victim Shafilea Ahmed (right). / Press Association via AP Images

(AP) LONDON - The Pakistani parents of a teenage girl have been found guilty of murdering a daughter who rebelled against a forced marriage to her cousin — a conviction that was clinched with the girl's younger sister testifying that she saw her parents suffocate her older sibling.

Justice Roderick Evans on Friday sentenced Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, to life for killing their daughter, Shafilea, in 2003. The couple — first cousins from the Pakistani village of Uttam — were ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison.

"She was being squeezed between two cultures — the culture and way of life that she saw around her and wanted to embrace, and the culture and way of life you wanted to impose on her," Evans said during the sentencing at the Chester Crown Court in northwest England.

In Britain, more than 25 women have been killed in so-called honor killings in the past decade. Families have sometimes lashed out at their children, often believing they have brought them shame by becoming too westernized or by refusing a marriage.

Shafilea was only 10 when she began to rebel against her parents' strict rules, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis.

The young girl would hide make-up, false nails and western clothes at school and then quickly change before her parents picked her up.

But it was the last year of her life that proved to be the most traumatic for Shafilea.

During the trial that began in May, jurors were gripped by testimony from Shafilea's younger sister, Alesha, who said she witnessed the murder when she was 12.

After an argument about Shafilea's dress, her parents pushed her down on a couch, stuffed a thin white plastic bag into her mouth and held their hands over her mouth and nose until she died, Alesha testified.

As she was struggling, her mother said, "just finish it here," according to Alesha's testimony.

Although Shafilea's other siblings contradicted the testimony, the last-minute emergence of a diary convinced jurors.

The diaries belonged to a friend of one of Shafilea's sisters, Mev. In it, the friend relays conversations she had with the sister about the night Shafilea died — details that supported Alesha's testimony.

"The strong message goes out and should be very clear: if you engage in honor killings — if you engage in forced marriages — you will be caught and brought to justice," said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Manchester-based Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim organization.

When Shafilea became a teenager, she became interested in boys — something that spurred punishment from her parents.

School officials also alerted social services after Shafilea repeatedly told them of regular beatings and a looming forced marriage.

Despite multiple reports to social services, Shafilea's file was closed in 2002.

In February 2003, she ran away and told council officers she needed emergency accommodation as her parents were trying to force her into an arranged marriage.

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[MagnaCartaUK]

Good judgment, but clearly this bald git and his fat wife weren't that horrified at Western culture, else they'd have returned to their beloved Pakistan to resume a life of drugery and hardship long ago. Still, they've bowed to our law, and those of a similar mentality will assimilate or suffer for their obstinacy. In balance, I know a muslim family who are the complete opposite. They're proud to be British, as were their parents who've lived here for decades. They're therefore fully converse with our way of life and traditions. They recently helped organize our local Jubilee celebrations, and celebrate Christmas with us for example. They prefer to live and practice their faith as THEY see fit, and say they won't be shackled by the engineered, contrary nature that some in Islam almost seem to advocate in Western countries. In contrast to them, this murderous couple were conceited enough to bite the hand that fed them, but it's also noticable that the loud minority in Britain who exhibit mock outrage over anything they perceive as 'Islamaphobic' are strangely quiet. This silence not only exposes their own agenda and intolerance, it's also an insult to the memory of Shafilea Ahmed.

[aintfakin]

so thats why these muslims are so backward
marrying your cousin isnt exactly a way to improve your genes

[fredisalive]

simple solution, if you don't like the west please don't bring your family there! Stay in your caves and marry your sisters and kill your daughters away from us! You're not even good enough to mingle with our prisoners!

[StrongHelmet]

Honor killings are not a teaching of Islam. They have been practiced by many traditional societies regardless of religion. Islam banned the pre-Islamic Arabian practice of burying girl-children alive. There is no way that its religious tenets would condone the murder of one's own daughter.

[Fay_Fife]

"I thought people who married their first cousins, which is the custom of Muslims all over the world, was illegal in civilized countries like the UK and the US"
- In the UK the indigenous population do not marry their first cousins, and therefore no-one ever decided to make it illegal. But people from Pakistan frequently do, and the result is that Pakistanis have a huge rate of disabilities compared to the natives and other ethnic groups, causing an extra burden on the NHS. Apparently we are racist for pointing this out.

[ReckonedTruth]

barbaric and uncivilized..but these PPL think they are morally BETTER than free PPL with choices under the law of freedoms..

..isn't the reason natives leave their homeland of oppression and lack of freedoms..is to be free from oppression and better opportunity OFFERED upon another land?(the western free world)..

So horrific..these parents MURDERED their child as a adult-daughter ..because she believed in freedom and not to be oppressed into a marriage not of her choice with a man.. she didn't visioned as her husband.. but her parents did..and because she wanted the freedom of CHOICE..against the parents choice..they murdereder her..how HORRIFIC is that?.. there's no way on this planet I would ever belong to the muslim faith..

..and may the grace of the living true God help the women of the muslim faith..what happen to this young muslim girl faith believer..this could happen to you..

[GTR5]

Brought to you by the religion of peace again.

[displeased2]

What kind of behavior do you expect from religious extremists? I think you're gullible if you believe individual behavior represents an entire population and their religion.

[vielmann]

Blood guilt is shared by all religions.

[MojitoMamma]

This poor girl tried so hard to escape horrible brutality - she put up a courageous battle, but lost anyway. My heart aches for what she could have become, what a great life she should have had . . . . .

There is no place in civilized societies for this behavior, they all need to be executed, but even a death sentence is too good for the likes of these animals.

[caljack430]

I really don't understand honor killings. I get that you are ashamed of your daughter, that she is rebelling against your wishes and not adhering to your religious views. HOWEVER, what God would want you to kill her because of that? Exile her from your family, cut her off, whatever. But kill her? Really? How do they justify that religiously!?

[displeased2]

Stoning and honor killings are also mentioned in the bible. Some people take these books way to seriously.

[rider1956]

Honor killings were only for cultures at they passed through the bronze age and the quarantining of unacceptable behavior was practiced. It was the way of the peopele and not the way of God. JC correctd all that. He said "He who is without sin, cast the fist stone.". His way also calms the anger that is in peoples' lives, if they accept him. Islam does not address thes issue, but flames the passions that produces these conflicts. There is no peae in Islam, just the need to convert the infidel or kill him and his culture.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

Three cheers for the UK.

These people come into our countries, want all the freedoms guaranteed to the people of these countries and still want to be exempt from practicing barbarous acts included in the own religion.!!

More "politically correct" crap.!!

Either execute these savages or or ship them back to their own countries on the first plane out.

Passengers on this flight should be only those guilty of such savagery on an airplane on automatic pilot without enough fuel to get them all the way back to their homeland.!