By Terri Judd Published: 15 July 2006 http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article1178562.ece Samaira Nazir was the brightest of her family. Articulate and well-educated, she graduated from university before taking a directorship in their recruitment business. Salman Mohammed's life had been less smooth. Desperate to flee Afghanistan, he was smuggled into Britain in the back of a lorry and made a living selling phone cards from a market stall. But when the pair met they fell in love, and for years conducted a secret affair before finally defying her family and announcing their wedding plans. It proved a fatal move and led to Samaira's death in a so-called "honour" killing. It was Samaira's brother, Azhar Nazir, 30, who introduced them. And five years later it was Nazir who would wrench them apart, savagely murdering his sister when he learnt of her "unsuitable" engagement. Yesterday Nazir, along with a 17-year-old cousin, Imran Mohammed, real name Kashif Rana, were jailed for life for the "barbaric" murder of the 25-year-old businesswoman. Ordering that Nazir serve at least 20 years and Mohammed 10, Judge Christopher Moss described how Samaira fought desperately for life, adding: "She suffered a brutal, gruesome and prolonged death in her own home." To Nazir, he continued: "You were Samaira's judge and jury. You may not have been alone in that respect. You claimed you loved your sister dearly when you orchestrated her murder." The Old Bailey trial heard how the pair repeatedly knifed the young woman as in a "prolonged and frenzied attack". At one point her bloody arm emerged through the front door before she was dragged back by her hair. Nazir's two daughters, aged two and four, were spattered with blood as they stood just feet away - forced to watch, police fear, the killing of a rebellious sister. Her mother stood near by. The case, which ended yesterday, will reignite the debate over so-called honour killings in Britain. Over the past few years, Scotland Yard has set up a dedicated unit to look into 109 suspicious deaths. Nine have been confirmed in this category and an equal number are seen as most probably honour-related. Mr Mohammed told the jury how he met Nazir after approaching him at the successful grocery store he ran with his father in Southall. H e told jurors that he and Samaira "were as boyfriend and girlfriend for about five or six years. But we couldn't tell her family because Samaira said her father was a very strict man who would not allow any female in his family to marry outside of his caste or tribe." Mr Mohammed tried to ingratiate himself by arranging for a cousin, who would eventually murder his girlfriend, to be brought to Britain. Meanwhile the pair kept their relationship secret. Twice the young woman was taken to Pakistan to find a suitor for an arranged marriage and twice she refused. In March 2005, she told her family she had become engaged and they reacted furiously, her father insisting the Afghan was only after money. At one point he approached Mr Mohammed on his stall and threatened him with a knife. When the young man called Samaira's brother to try and reason with him, he threatened to kill both of them. On 23 April 2005, Samaira and Mr Mohammed tried to see her mother, Irshad Begum, at a relative's house, but she refused. Instead the young woman was summoned to the family home in Southall, west London, where her 61-year-old father, also called Azhar, brother and cousin attacked her. She was held down while her throat was cut in three places and she was stabbed 18 times. As she screamed for help a neighbour banged on the door, but the father emerged claiming that his daughter was having a fit. Another neighbour spotted Samaira's bloodsoaked arm emerging from the front door before she was dragged back inside. As they heard her begging for help, her last words were for Mrs Begum: "You are not my mother any more." Police found a trail of blood across the house and Samaira's body slumped in the hallway. As he was led away, Nazir said: "There had been a problem with my sister. She does not wish to have an arranged marriage. We only allow marriage within the family." Nazir and Mohammed both denied murder, the former claiming he was in another room and the latter that he believed Samaira was a victim of black magic. Both were convicted last month. Samaira's father fled to Pakistan after being charged. His family claim he has died, though police are still trying to track him down. Charges against her mother were later dropped. After yesterday's sentencing, Detective Inspector John Reid said: 'There is no honour in taking somebody's life. Honour is about power, and power is about money and that is the motive behind this crime." Murdered to protect the good name of the family * Heshu Yones, 16, was stabbed 11 times by her Kurdish father, Abdalla, 48, on 12 October 2002, when he discovered she was seeing a Lebanese Christian boy. He broke down the door of the bathroom where she had barricaded herself, slit her throat and left her to bleed to death. * Faqir Mohammed stabbed his 24-year-old daughter, Shahida Parveen, 20 times in the head and stomach after finding her fully clothed in her bedroom with her secret boyfriend in June 2001. He told police: "According to the law it was not right, but according to religion it was right." * Rukhsana Naz was seven months' pregnant when her mother held her down as her brother Shazad Ali, 22, strangled her with a plastic flex in 1998. The 19-year-old, who had been married four years earlier to a man who remained in Pakistan, had had an affair. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 'You're not my mother any more,' shouted Samaira. Then her family killed her Man gets 20 years after murdering sister who chose husband from wrong caste Riazat Butt Saturday July 15, 2006 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1821073,00.html Samaira Nazir knew well that her parents would disapprove. She wanted to marry her Afghan boyfriend, rather than someone from the family circle, and she was prepared to fight for him too. So were they. Yesterday, Ms Nazir's brother was jailed for at least 20 years for her murder and her cousin, who is 17, will serve 10 years for his role in her death last April. The "honour killing", which took place at home in front of her parents, was carried out with four knives, as she was pinned down, and left her with 18 stab wounds and three separate cuts to her throat. The Old Bailey heard the method was "barbaric". Jurors were told the family disapproved of Ms Nazir's boyfriend, Salman Mohammed, because of his caste and they were so determined to split the pair up that when the couple announced their engagement, Ms Nazir's father, Azhar, lunged at Mr Mohammed with a knife and threatened to kill him. Her brother Azhar Nazir, a 30-year-old greengrocer, threatened to "get" the couple if they married, even if they were abroad. He was, the court heard, so incensed that his sister had turned down the suitors waiting for her in Pakistan in favour of the Afghan that he ordered the 25-year-old to come to the family home in Southall, Middlesex. Ready to confront her were her parents, her brother and the 17-year-old cousin, Imran Mohammed. Also present were her brother's daughters aged two and four. Inside the house, faced with angry relatives, Ms Nazir had a heated argument with them about her future, the court heard. The men attacked her, holding on to her to stop her escaping, and acted together to avenge the family honour. Her screams alerted a neighbour, who came to the house and banged on the door, but her father appeared and sent the neighbour away, claiming his daughter was having a fit. Ms Nazir, jurors were told, was heard to shout at her mother, Irshad Begum: "You are not my mother any more." Ms Nazir succeeded in fleeing from her captors, her bloodstained arm emerging briefly from the door, but the men grabbed her by the hair and dragged her back into the house. Her family held her down, tied a silk scarf round her neck, and Imran Mohammed slashed her neck three times. Police who arrived at the house found Ms Nazir slumped in the hallway covered in blood. They also saw the two cousins were splattered with blood and feared they had been forced to watch Ms Nazir's murder as a warning as to what might happen should they fall in love with the wrong man. Azhar Nazir told officers there had been a problem with his sister. He said: "She does not wish to have an arranged marriage. We only allow marriage within the family. My sister wanted to run away from the house and was stopped." He tried to blame his cousin, a youth with low intellect, for the crime. Ms Nazir's father, a businessman, was also arrested and bailed for the killing but he fled to Pakistan and his family claimed he died there. Charges against the mother were dropped. Mr Mohammed and Ms Nazir, who ran a recruitment agency in the Southall area, had kept their affair secret, even staying apart for a year out of respect for the family. They met in 2000, following his illegal entry into the UK, after he found his way to Nazir's greengrocer's shop looking for advice on employment and accommodation. He became known to the family and Mr Mohammed fell in love with Ms Nazir. Giving evidence during the trial he said: "We were as boyfriend and girlfriend for about five or six years. But we couldn't tell her family because Samaira said her father was a very strict man who would not allow any female in his family to marry outside of his caste or tribe. "We had discussed marriage. Samaira told me she wanted to tell her family herself. Her father was very upset with her decision and said I was only after their money." Judge Christopher Moss said: "Samaira Nazir was an accomplished young woman who was murdered by members of her family because she insisted on marrying someone deemed unsuitable. She suffered a brutal, gruesome and horrific death." The judge told Nazir: "You were her judge and jury, although you may not have been alone. You claimed to have loved your sister, but were guilty of orchestrating her murder." Imran Mohammed, he said, had "carried out the sentence of death" passed on the young woman. Speaking after the trial, Nazir Afzal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Samaira was murdered because she loved the wrong person, in her family's eyes. It was an 'honour killing' to protect the perceived status of the family, to mark their disapproval. We hope the investigation and prosecution will deter others who may wish to harm family members because of practices that are as tragic as they are outdated." Detective inspector John Reid added: "If Samaira had come to us and told us there were difficulties at home or she felt threatened, we might have been in a position to help her. But the stringent conditions operating in such families would have prohibited her coming forward." |
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