AN Asian couple who feared their daughter’s western ways would shame them were
themselves shamed yesterday as they were convicted of her sickening honour
killing.
Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and his wife Farzana, 49, were jailed for life for the
murder of tragic Shafilea, 17.
A court had heard Shafilea was beaten and suffocated by having a plastic bag
thrust into her mouth after she defied her Pakistani Muslim parents by
rejecting an arranged marriage, wearing western clothes and chatting to boys.
After the pair were caged for a minimum of 25 years, Superintendent Geraint
Jones, senior police officer in the investigation, scorned the concept of
honour killing.
He said: “For me, this is a case of domestic abuse. It transcends culture,
class, race and religion.
“The abuse Shafilea suffered was motivated by her parents’ desire to control
her, to make her conform to their interpretation of Pakistani culture.
“When this failed, they murdered her — a vile and shameful act.”
And Paul Whittaker, Chief Crown Prosecutor in the case, added: “The word shame
has been heard many times during this trial. But the shame is not on
Shafilea, it is on her parents.
“She wanted to choose how she lived her life and who she married — fundamental
freedoms for any citizen of the United Kingdom. There is no honour in
murder.”
For almost nine years the Ahmeds, of Warrington, Cheshire, believed they had
got away with the killing. But their plot unravelled when another daughter,
Alesha, told cops she witnessed the horrific attack on Shafilea.
In her harrowing evidence, Alesha, who was 14 at the time, said her mum and
dad pinned her sister on a settee at their home in September 2003 and
stuffed a plastic bag in her mouth.
She said her mother declared: “Just finish it here.”
Alesha, now 23, told a hushed Chester Crown Court the attack followed a row
about Shafilea going out without a jacket. Her brother Junyad had searched
Shafilea’s bag for boys’ phone numbers.
She went on: “They both started hitting her. One said, ‘Grab a bag’, which my
Mum did. It was a plastic bag. They put it in her mouth and put their hands
over her, both of them. He held her down with his leg on her stomach. She
was kicking her legs.
“You could tell she was gasping for air. She wet herself because she was
struggling so much. That was it. She was gone.”
Shafilea was listed as missing and her body was found in a river six months
later.
The killing followed a series of clashes with the strict parents, the jury
heard. Months before her death, Shafilea drank bleach on a trip to Pakistan
because she feared she was going to be married off.
The teenager, who wanted to be a lawyer, ran away from home several times. And
eight months before her death she sought emergency accommodation, saying her
parents were increasingly violent.
She said one would “hold me down while the other hit me”.
Letters written by the Ahmeds’ daughter Mevish, showing she also saw the
murder, were given to police by a pal. They included the chilling words: “I
even seen the suitcase they took her in.” In court Mevish claimed the
letters were written as fiction. But Judge Roderick Evans said she was in
the “sad position of having to deny her own words to try to help her
parents”.
As Mevish gave evidence, the judge warned her taxi driver dad to stop trying
to communicate with her from the dock by nodding his head.
After the letters emerged, Farzana Ahmed dramatically changed her story,
claiming she saw her husband attack Shafilea and she hid upstairs. She said
when she asked where the girl was, she was told, “If you care for your life
and your children’s life, do not ask me that question again.”
But the jury decided she too had killed Shafilea and played a part in the
removal of her body.
The Ahmeds were questioned by police several times over the murder but were
only charged after Alesha came forward following a £30,000 robbery at the
family home in 2010. She is now awaiting sentence for the robbery. Covert
police recordings trapped the couple discussing how a third person could be
framed for the murder and when the body would be found.
Iftikhar Ahmed stood impassively as the verdicts were given, while his wife
wiped away tears.
Judge Evans told them: “Shafilea wanted to live a life which was normal in the
country you chose to live in. You wanted your family to live in Pakistan in
Warrington. She was being squeezed between two cultures. Your concern about
being shamed in your community was greater than the love for your child.
“To rid yourselves of that problem, you killed Shafilea. You acted together as
a team to kill her.”
Mohammed Shafiq, Chief Executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, said last night:
“I welcome the verdicts. These are gruesome and evil people. Islam is very
clear, honour killings and forced marriages are forbidden.” Shafilea’s best
friend Melissa Powner, 26, urged girls in a similar situation to seek help.
She went on: “Shafilea was a caring, high-spirited and brave young lady. She
could light up a room.
“If there is one thing we pray will come from this, it is that her beautiful
face and tragic story will inspire others to seek help — and make people
realise this kind of vile treatment is not acceptable.”
Evidence that nailed them
Sister’s letters
EXTRACTS of two letters by Mevish Ahmed claimed by prosecutors to reflect
sister Shafilea’s murder which she saw as a child.
LETTER 1 I keep having the same dream. I’m awake a bit now and I’m
******** it. I’m thinking is it me next?
They treated her like ****. She was so thin, practically dying but oh they
wanted that the lot of them.
Even when she was a kid she’d get beaten and left in cold till dad came then
mum would bring her in.
Shutting curtains and hurting her. I seen I tried to stop it but turn round
and hit me. Why did da rest sit and watch. It wasnt a ******* show.
She was hurting. 3 times she ran but they got her. Id do anything to change
that ngt. I wish I never seen but I did. I even seen the suitcase they took
her in. They knocked me over and smacked me coz I seen. They tried to kill
her so many times. They achieved it third time.
LETTER 2 Same dream again. Maybe I need help. Y didnt I stop it?
Same things going to happen to me. I got a feeling. Not a feeling actually.
I’m 100% certain give it time. I heard them saying it. I’m next.
People think they can get away with things. Them for example.
Friend’s diary
ENTRIES written by Shahin Munir. She claimed they documented her pal
Mevish’s confession she saw her parents murder Shafilea.
DIARY, Oh my god. Today I met Mev. She was very nervous. Eventually she told
me what happened with her sister Shafilea.
They all went Pakistan, to sort her out. They sedated her as she didn’t
actually want to go. Then the bleach thing happened. Their family just said
let her die.
Shafilea was very ill. Her Mum told Mev to stop caring for her, like stop
trying to feed her etc. They didn’t want her to survive. But she did.
That night when everything happened Shafilea came home from work and they
started shouting at her because she had a T-shirt on. Her dad went mad and
started proper hitting her. Shafilea was still weak from the whole bleach
thing. Then Junyad got a plastic bag. They used the bag to suffocate her.
1-2 minutes gone. Just like Mev wrote.
No one was allowed in the kitchen. Mev’s mum tried to tell her Shafilea had
ran away. Then they disposed of the body. But Mev’s scared.
They say things like, “You know what happened to the other one.”
Diary, she’s scared for her life. You can see it in her eyes.
Appeal for help
PART of application by Shafilea to Warrington social services for emergency
accommodation in February 2003.
Regular incidents since I was 15/16. One parent would hold me while the other
hit me.
Scared of going back to my parents. Frightened enough to flee my home.
There’d been a build-up of violence towards me and my mother told me I was
about to go to Pakistan to have an arranged marriage.
I feel that if I was offered accommodation my parents would leave me alone
because of police involvement.
Over the past few years I have been experiencing domestic violence from my
parents.
myView
By ANILA BAIG, Sun Writer
SHAFILEA’S parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed hated all things western yet
chose to live in Britain, moving from Bradford to even more “westernised”
Cheshire.
Yet their contempt for the British way of life is clear — Mrs Ahmed still
doesn’t speak English.
Why move here but uphold the mentality of the Pakistani village? Shafilea did
not deserve death, she was a child, an innocent young girl but her parents
do deserve life — a life behind bars.
RIP Shafilea.