PAKISTANI PARENTS KILLED DAUGHTER IN AN HONOUR KILLING FOR DATING BOYS

Shafilea Ahmed

We are not an expert on honour killing. But we do have a fair amount of Asian friends who have explained certain things to us as long as their names are not mentioned as this is a very sensitive almost no go area issue. Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was killed for bringing “shame” on her Pakistani-born parents by leading a Western way of life and trying to go on dates with boys. Her body was found by a river near Sedgwick, Cumbria, hours later in September 2003.  Shafilea's sister who was 15 years old in 2003, broke her eight-year silence and told police she saw her parents kill Miss Ahmed.

According to wikipedia an honour killing is the killing of a member of a family or social group by other members of the family, due to the belief of the perpetrators that the victim has brought dishonour upon the family or community. Honour killings are directed mostly against women and girls. An honour killing may be carried out on the suspicion of behaviours such as dressing in a manner unacceptable to the family or community, wanting to terminate or prevent an arranged marriage or desiring to marry by own choice, especially if to a member of a social group deemed inappropriate, engaging in heterosexual acts outside marriage and engaging in homosexual acts. There are many cases of honour killings in the UK. Sometimes young girls just disappears.

Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, had spent a year trying to force their daughter to adopt a stricter way of life by taking her to Pakistan where she drank bleach and had to be brought back to the UK. They allegedly murdered her at the family home in Warrington, Cheshire, on Sept 11, 2003, after deciding they would never succeed.

The parents

Andrew Edis, QC, prosecuting, told the jury at the Chester Crown Court: “They finally killed her because she had dishonoured the family and brought shame on them. They had despaired of her ever becoming a daughter they could ever be proud of.”