Nusrat Ghani asks PM for end to term ‘honour killings’

An “able, ambitious” teenager killed by her parents in front of her brothers and sisters by her own parents after they decided she had become too “westernised” has been honoured on what would have been her 37th birthday.

Shafilea Ahmed had ambitions to become a lawyer – but they were snuffed out on September 11, 2003 when she was killed in the lounge of the family’s home in Great Sankey, near Warrington in Cheshire, after she refusing a forced marriage in Pakistan in a killing which shocked the nation.

A Day of Memory is held every year on July 14, Shafilea’s birthday, to commemorate all those who have lost their lives in so-called “honour” abuse.

A vigil was held this week with a conference of keynote speakers also taking place to discuss the disturbing issues raised by the case.

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Savera UK, a leading charity working to end honour-based abuse, teamed up with with John Dwyer, Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, John Dwyer, to remember Shafilea.

The charity said the occasion was also intended to raise awareness of often ‘hidden’ forms of abuse, such as female genital mutilation (FGM). A minute’s silence in Shafilea’s memory was observed at the event.

Afrah Qassim, Savera UK CEO and founder, told the Manchester Evening News: “It is 20 years this year since Shafilea’s life was taken from her, simply for wanting to make her own choices in life. There is no ‘honour’ in this behaviour and no excuse for abuse.

“Although progress has been made over the past two decades, there are an estimated 12 to 15 ‘honour’ killings in the UK each year and tens of thousands more are harmed due to honour-based abuse and harmful practice.

“There is still limited public and professional awareness about honour-based abuse and harmful practices and how they can affect anyone regardless of ethnicity, background, gender identity or sexuality.

“These abuses are still happening here in the UK, and it is our collective responsibility to stop them. Our partnership with Cheshire PCC allows us to share our knowledge and skills with professionals in Cheshire and provide life-saving direct intervention services to survivors and those at risk. Together we will end these practices for good.”

After Shafilea’s death, her parents, father Iftikhar Ahmed and mother Farzana, continued to deny their involvement for years.

However, in 2012, her sister, Alesha, however, told a jury at Chester Crown Court her parents pushed Shafilea on to a settee, with her mother saying “just finish it here” as they forced a plastic bag into her mouth, killing her in front of their other children.

The tragedy was the culmination of years of rows and abuse over Shafilea’s desire to follow a more westernised way of life which saw her studying to become a solicitor and take an interest in clothes, make-up and boys, to her parents’ disapproval.

Her decomposed remains were discovered in the River Kent in Cumbria in February, 2004, months after she was reported missing.

Her parents even appeared on live TV at the time, shedding crocodile tears and insisting they had nothing to do with her disappearance or her death.

A turning point came in 2010 – seven years after her disappearance – when sister Alesha told officers she had witnessed Shafilea being killed by their parents and had been struggling under the pressure of keeping it a secret, after her and her three siblings were warned to keep the secret or meet the same fate.

Shafilea was first reported missing by her college in September, 2003, when she had not turned up for a week, and her friends were concerned they had been unable to contact her.

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It emerged that in February 2003, just before she was taken to Pakistan to be forced into a marriage she did not want, Shafilea ran away and asked social services to help her find a place to live.

In the application form she said she suffered from regular domestic violence from the age of 15, adding: “One parent would hold me whilst the other hit me. I was prevented from attending college and my part-time job.”

She said she was scared of going back to her parents and “frightened enough” to run away. Her words were used in court from beyond the grave to help convict her parents.

During her time in Pakistan, Shafilea is believed to have rejected one proposal to marry a cousin.

While there, she also drank bleach, resulting in serious problems for her eating, drinking and swallowing and her being rushed to hospital when the family returned to Warrington. Her family insisted she had drunk the substance by accident, because they had re-used a mouthwash bottle, and filled it with bleach and she had drunk it.

Shafilea spent eight weeks in hospital and her weight plunged to five stone. Four months later she was missing.

The court heard her murder followed a row over her choice of western clothes – a T-shirt and tight trousers.

Jailing the pair, trial judge Mr Justice Roderick Evans told them: “Your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than the love of your child.

“You chose to bring up your family in Warrington but although you lived in Warrington your social and cultural attitudes were those of rural Pakistan and it was those which you imposed upon your children. Shafilea was a determined, able and ambitious girl who wanted to live a life which was normal in the country and in the town in which you had chosen to live and bring up your children.

“However, you could not tolerate the life that Shafilea wanted to live 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.”

Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner John Dwyer said: “There is no excuse for abuse, and nobody should be in fear for their life just because they are trying to live their full potential.

“The best way we can honour Shafilea’s memory is to redouble our efforts to prevent the kind of abuse which she suffered.”

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