‘Honor Killing’: Pakistani Parents Found Guilty of Suffocating Teenage Daughter Who Refused Forced Marriage to Her 1st Cousin
- Posted on August 3, 2012 at 3:51pm by
Billy Hallowell
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This is an undated Cheshire Police handout photo of murdered teen-ager Shafilea Ahmed. (AP Photo/Chesire Police via PA)
LONDON (TheBlaze/AP) — In a startling case, 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.
Some of Shafilea’s own words also proved compelling to jurors.
In the application form to move out, she said she had suffered from regular domestic violence from the age of 15.
“One parent would hold me whilst the other hit me,” she said.
In was also in 2003 that her parents drugged her and took her to Pakistan against her will to seal the arranged marriage to her cousin, Alesha said.
In protest, Shafilea drank bleach.
When she returned to Britain in May 2003, she was admitted to a hospital because of damage done to her throat.
She was eventually released, but arguments over her clothing continued.
One night, her parents complained she was wearing a T-shirt and wasn’t properly covered up, according to Alesha. Alesha described that after the attack, her siblings ran upstairs and she watched as her father carried Shafilea’s body to the car wrapped in a blanket.
She was reported missing shortly after, with her parents making a teary-eyed media appeal for information leading to their daughter. But police were suspicious – so much so that they bugged the house.
Shafilea’s decomposed remains were eventually discovered in the River Kent in Cumbria in February 2004, but it wasn’t until 2010 that Alesha provided the key testimony.
Last year the government’s Forced Marriage Unit investigated more than 1,400 cases of forced marriages, most of which occur in Muslim communities. Britain is home to more than 1.8 million Muslims, most from Pakistani roots.
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Comments (159)
SNAFOO
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:38pmAnd the liberals think we should be tolerant? Should we tolerate this religion of Islam? I think not or we will be passive and submissive to their evils. Sorry, ZERO tolerance for murdering & incestuous people.
Report Post »1digger
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:46pmTrouble is liberals AREN’T tolerant. If you don’t like their micro-managing of your life, they like to shove it down our throats like Obamacare, CFL bulbs, etc. They take a page out of the gays playbook if you have the audacity to have another opinion that doesn’t march in lock step with their own; think Chick-fil-A. Their attempts to get compliance haven‘t crossed the line into ’honor killings’ YET but their in your face actions to shut someone down or close a business is going down that road. It‘s probably just a matter of time from the lib’s hatefest.
Report Post »Machtyn
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 3:04amBut it’s the religion of peace.
Like the Left’s idea of tolerance and free speech.
Report Post »000degrees
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 7:20amBarbaric…..
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 11:43amAll I want to know is are the Israelis still leading the Globe in “sex trafficking”?
I’ll be awaiting an article Blaze.. Inform us. Please. Just the facts ok?
Report Post »techengineer11
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 1:11pmWow! Over an hr and my post has not been removed? You ok Blaze? lol
Report Post »C. Schwehr
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 1:18pmTECHENGINEER11: Are you still raping your pre-pubescent daughters on a regular basis? If not, please tell us all here when you stopping raping your daughters.
Report Post »ACTFORCHRIST
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 3:12pmAbsolutely Right! Everyone should read John Daniels new book, ‘THE COMING: A TRUE STORY OF HORROR” to see what will happen in America. Unbelievable!! It’s now at Amazon.com
Report Post »Secret Squirrel
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 9:18pm.
Report Post »Bastards.
PATTY HENRY
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 12:37pmCorrection please: Islam is NOT a RELIGION!!1 It is a cult; They do NOT worship the same GOD we do, they worship Satan parading as God. There is no such thing as a Moderate Muslim because all their money that they “give” goes to Hysterical Tyrannical killing machines. The reason you, Blaze, don’t get many comments on stories like this is that we, the people, find it so abhorrent that it defies comment.
Report Post »Quester55
Posted on August 12, 2012 at 10:49pmIs this the Peaceful people the Anti-American Socialist speak of when talking about Muslims? I’ve been accused of living in the past by my own Son, But these Murderers have Never left the Past. Guess they never herd of Human rights before, And to think, There are millions of these Animals living among us right now! Just waiting to Strike us down and with Obama’s Blessings. Let’s Not become another “ ” England “, Vote the Pakistani zebra out of office an Return America back to Americans again!
Report Post »Quester55
Posted on August 12, 2012 at 11:35pmPatty Henry States it best, All I can add is that In this war on Religion or Cults, there are No Winners. As For The Jewish and Christian Faith, Only Those that Truly Worship The One God, have a chance of Winning in the End, For it is Stated; That on that day, Every Knee shall bow and every Tongue shall confess, That JESUS CHRIST is LORD. Then all of the Anti-Christ and their False Religions shall be Judged. What those Muslims/Islamic/and False Churches are in for, I’d not wish on my worse enemy.
Report Post »RANGER1965
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:38pmIf you are a Muslim and you move to a Western nation because you are tired of living in the hell hole that your religion has made of your country. Perhaps it would behoove you to adopt some of the customs that made that nation a nice place to live.
You know wayyyyyy ahead of time, that price of living in that prosperous country is freedom. And with freedom, comes pornography, elicit behavior, risque advertising, drugs…etc. But you knowingly chose this for you, and your family. You were willing to pay that price for the hope of prosperity.
Report Post »If you are not willing to pay that price, if your false righteousness is more important, then you should stay in the sweltering armpit of a nation you live in, and happily live on the 1 dollar a week you can scrape up.
who_is_john_galt_in_RI
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:39pmamen
Report Post »BenzinVasser
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:43pmThat was poetry Ranger, I applaud you. I just wish I could have said it..LOL!…SOOO! true, thank You!
Report Post »Benzin
RossPoldark
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 9:22pmBritain unfortunatly caters to these fanatics. They are so much into political correctness they are th rowing away their own culture. This cult with its own pagan rules is coming to a neighborhood near you. I find it funny that Chicago Mayer Rohn Emanuel condemns Chic-fil-a for its christian values yet is inviting the nation of Islam founder Louis Farrakahn to speak to the african amercian neighborhoods about the black on black violence. Yeah, hes a roll model I hear. Sorta like Lucifer.
Report Post »Fenrirsulfr
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 10:22pmPeople come to this country fleeing either poverty, a despotic government, religious intolerance, or simply trying to give their children a better life; Then they repeat the same behaviors that caused the problems in the first place.
Report Post »America was the “Great Melting Pot” now we celebrate “diversity” and “multiculturalism” and our society has paid a terrible price for all this wonderful “inclusiveness”.
mr.goodvibe
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 10:42pmAfter having worked in a steel mill the whole melting pot saying has new meaning, these idiots are the useles **** from the melting pot.
Report Post »Ayla_me
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 7:25amThis was beautifully put, Ranger; however, I have to disagree on one point: you stated that Muslims come to Western countries for a chance at prosperity. Many of them are simply coming to infiltrate the Western countries, and through their increasing numbers, to demand change to their ways. They are more interested in global domination than one thinks. Once a small population settles somewhere, they begin to bring over all of their family and neighbors, etc. Soon, they begin to harrass those of the native country, until they are driven out. Look at Dearbourne. Can anyone safely live there? No. Only those who are Muslim in their ideology. It is all about Caliphate. Unfortunately, Obama will play along with them, and those who do not go along, will be beheaded. Hard and scary times are coming.
Report Post »Granny58
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 9:14amSpot on!
Report Post »19freedom53
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 12:34pmYou hit that nail on the head. I have often wonder why families from other countries come here to live and then get upset when some of their family members become to “westernized” What the heck did they expect. If they don‘t want to adopt our language and culture don’t live here
Report Post »DV
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:44pmBetter than that, you might consider converting to the REAL religion of peace.
Report Post »Skrewedretiree
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:33pmAh, here we go again…..the “religion of Peace”….
All moo-slums should go back to their respective sand boxes and butcher each other there. Leave the Western nations to their civilization and go back to the barbaric 3rd World toilets they emigrated from.
Report Post »term limits for congress
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:54pmI’m going to open Planned Parenthood franchises in Pakistan and Londonistan. I’ll make a killing (pun intended).
Sad story, but not surprising.
Actually, I am looking forward to having Sharia Law in the US. Burqa-up ladies – and walk the line!
Report Post »Mil Mom
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 10:56pm@term limits for congress
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:54pm
I’m going to open Planned Parenthood franchises in Pakistan and Londonistan. I’ll make a killing (pun intended).
Sad story, but not surprising.
Actually, I am looking forward to having Sharia Law in the US. Burqa-up ladies – and walk the line!
Report Post »***
If you want your clinic to be successful, it would have to be an “Much after-birth-abortion clinic, specializing in daughters who disobey. Then you’d do a better business than a crematorium in hades!
somecallmeMC
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 2:33pmOh come on, it is the religion of peace as long as you submit.
Report Post »The-Real-Enrico
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:33pmShe was such a pretty young women. That probably why she deserved it so much.
This is how you show your love for yourself and others in Islam. The great religion of peace & honor!
May God help these people.
Report Post »UnCL3
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:52amOh, I’m pretty sure that EVERY one of them will be helped by God…in due time…to the Lake of Fire…their religion is an apostasy perpetrated on them by one Muhamad character…they believe this, they have heard the word of Christ and wholly reject it. Worship of false gods equals eternal hell.
Report Post »mrdon2012
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:32pmthe religion of Peace and Love. Coming soon to a neighborhood, city, and state near you.
Report Post »Cavy2see
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 5:39pmI just had a funny thought … some come to be a doctor…fix up faces for us women here…and their women live under a burka or a scarf…sad world…if you do not comply woowoo you are a goner…I just wanted to say this sad…oh one more thingy women cannot go anywhere alone…or go driving anywhere…woowoo…when that happens to Hilary will she like it??? just a few thoughts here…this poor girl died she should be a saint for not wanting to marry that way…1st cousin…how bizare…forcing someone to do something they don’t want is a crime…
Report Post »Goohuman
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:29pmLooks like a lot of evidence. Why did it take so long to come to trial?
Report Post »Chug
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 7:19amThe police had their suspicions, but it wasn’t until the sister came forward in 2010 with her testimony that they had a case that would stand a good chance of a conviction.
Report Post »Realman30
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:27pmAre you liberals happy?
Report Post »You back this ‘religion’ over Christianity.
moreteaplease
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:26pmSchool 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.
Report Post »———————————-
Why, because of political pressure?
RonmeyPaulBotsrOdd
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 4:53amProbably dictated by a sharia court system….
Report Post »kat747
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 9:20amThese people in England are getting exactly what “they have allowed to develop”.
Report Post »I am surprised that they actually brought those two murderers (the parents) to a real court.
And marrying a first cousin…..no wonder their DNA is so screwed up.
BelindaB
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:19pmBritain and any OTHER country, that Allows a large muslim population to live among them are truely stupid…BUT…at least the muslims were put on trial, and found to be GUILTY of murder….now they can spend the rest of their worthless lives in prison. The beliefs of the muslim people are ILLEGAL in most countries other than their OWN…
Report Post »DV
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:48pmThe irksome thing is that you talk to Brits today, they’re just as insanely liberal and leftist as they ever were. They‘ll argue with you til they’re blue in the face when you point out that their country is finished because they let in millions of Muslims and the Muslim population grows like a weed.
Report Post »MAX0O1
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:17pmWE HEAR OF AND OR SEE more and more of this sick society. MAKES YOU wonder at the love fest between the Obama administration and CAIR and the muslim brotherhood. What tell me are MR
Report Post »HUSSIEN OBAMAS’ values. JUST WONDERING!
DV
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:43pmRahm and Obama’s values, I suppose.
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:17pmIt’s in their blood, I tell ya.
Report Post »Best_Patriot
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:13pmThese folks sound like the typical Tea Party parents!
Report Post »MAX0O1
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:20pmYOU ARE SO full of S**T!
Report Post »scootervanneuter
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:25pmYeah, those evil, God-fearing, charitable, monsters who dare opposite sexual immorality / deviant gay marriage, government totalitarianism, unchecked deficit spending, high taxes, etc. They’re the worst.
Report Post »Skrewedretiree
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:36pmWell, been drinking the Kool-Aid again, Lefty?
Report Post »TexasHunter
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:37pmYet once again you never fail to let us down with your genius comments. How you are able to put your underwear on correctly just astounds me.
Report Post »americansfightingforcommonsense
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:39pmBEST_NOT_PATRIOT
Report Post »I just wanted to help fill in the blank in your name. Obviously you have never been to a Tea Party gathering and if you have it was only to cause trouble, not to have an actual discussion.
God Bless America!
Gonzo
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 10:53amAs a parent who has had to bury a child. I hope I get to meet you face to face some day…I really do.
Report Post »jake-spoon
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 7:50amYes skrewed,he drinks the koolaid only after bathing and blowing bubbles in it.
Report Post »DV
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:53pmomg. NO lie, no slander, no offense against truth and decency is too much or too far for the Obama Lefties.
Report Post »randy
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:13pmIn a startling case, the Pakistani parents of a teenage girl have been found guilty of murdering a daughter who rebelled against a forced marriage to her cousin.
Woo among us think this is anything but the norm when it comes to Islam?
Report Post »Not me…..
ltemp
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 6:08pmRandy
Report Post »“Woo among us think this is anything but the norm when it comes to Islam?
Not me…..”
I agree that is true. I have worked with very good Muslim men and women, however, when in this country, has a christian couple ever been accused of murdering their daughter because of an arranged marriage? Have you looked up what they do if your gay? Let me tell ya, you don’t get their support and a chick-fl-a sandwich. You wont be found, even at a drive through hurling insults at an innocent teenager. I’m wondering would your opinion of the story be different if the book these people followed were changed to the bible? Excuse me if I drivethrough ya.
Commonsensical
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:13pmHmmm, typical “Religion of Peace” behavior…
Report Post »Tri-ox
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:12pmI guess these typical, devout muslims didn’t get the memo: The only “honorable” way to murder your own child is by beheading.
When is the world going to wake up?
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:11pmWhat a great religion and culture. Hey, let‘s send those fine pakistani’s some more financial and military aid!
One day, the UK will wise up and start expelling these radicals from their lands.
I hope this young lady finds her way to heaven…and I hope her parents rot in a place a heck of a lot hotter.
Report Post »jaylew
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:07pmGood looking Islamic girls don’t ever even have a chance…..if anything will cure and put an absolute and perfect death to Fundamental Islamism ….it will be their females. How any woman of any faith anywhere on this planet could in good conscious continue to let this nonsense go unabated it beyond me as a 57 year old man. It is time for women everywhere to…and yes I know at great peril….but to raise up and put this nonsense to the death it so richly deserves. Fundamental Islamism is pure abject insanity.
Now come and get us you Islamo-freaks….. you can’t possibly kill all of us who know you are all complete lunatics and a danger to the future of mankind.
Report Post »DJEyeDub
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:06pmSharia law coming to a community near you… In northern Canada we have had mosques go up in several communities recently. I wonder if they have a mandate to expand and multiply. I guess I feel bad for the ones who picked the shortest straw and got the arctic as their “new home” away from home.
Report Post »mapgirl10
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:05pmPoor kid died in a religion of hate! So, so sad :[
Report Post »Lothmar
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:04pmWait, isn’t it illegal to marry your first cousin in England? Or were they going to ship her off to Pakistan for this? Hmm, if they’re married in pakistan – is her ‘husband’ now a citizen of England or would she become a pakistani citizen?
Then again I could just be grasping at straws when the far more obvious evil is easily seen.
Report Post »Chet Hempstead
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:43pmFirst cousin marriage is legal in England.
Report Post »Smokey_Bojangles
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 7:07pmAint that how the royal family got started? A Family tree with no forks?
Report Post »The_Jerk
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:04pmHang’em High. Civility demands the death penalty.
Report Post »oldduffer
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 8:29pmYou buying that good Maui Wowie from Obama again?
Report Post »DV
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:50pmThe Brits don’t have the death penalty. Aint that just terrific! And they’ll call you a Nazi if you suggest that they need to bring it back. They’re crazier than a million Chicagos.
Report Post »watersRpeople
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:03pmAmericans are merely mental slaves, and people in the Mid-East albeit their bodies are imprisoned – their minds are more free to wander.
Report Post »C. Schwehr
Posted on August 4, 2012 at 7:41pmSpoken like a real islamic sheep…..
Report Post »jake-spoon
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:00amWhat the hell did you just say?
Report Post »watersRpeople
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:01pmThat’s a question all mentally imprisoned Americans should be asking themselves. If you are so mentally free, then how come the Mid-East is burning first?
Report Post »TexasHunter
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:59pmPut down the PIPE..
Report Post »jake-spoon
Posted on August 5, 2012 at 10:10amHow much for an oz. of what you’re smoking,gotta be at least $600.00 for something that good.
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 3:59pmSick! Lord be with her.
Report Post »kaydeebeau
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 3:58pm“She was reported missing shortly after, with her parents making a teary-eyed media appeal for information leading to their daughter.” If the parents were so sure of the honor in their actions why hide it? Why not shout it from the roof tops?
Report Post »Lothmar
Posted on August 3, 2012 at 4:05pmThey had children to raise to be good Muslims – you cant trust the evil western state to raise them correctly if they became wards.
Report Post »