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November 22, 2005
UK: Eight Arrested In Muslim "Honour Killing" Case
The News & Star reports that eight members of one family were arrested today, in connection with the apparent honour killing of Shafilea Ahmed.
Shafilea, aged 17, disappeared from her home in Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire, in September 2003. Months later, in February 2004, her badly decomposed body was discovered, deliberately hidden in the River Kent in Sedgwick. The body only became dislodged from its place of concealment because of flooding.
In December 2003, Shafilea's parents, Ifitkar, 44, and Farzana, 41, had been arrested on suspicion of abducting their daughter, but were later released on bail.
Shafilea (pictured) had been missing for a week before anyone alerted the police. It was only the actions of her teachers at school who informed the authorities
Shafilea, who has been described as "westernised", had been earmarked to be married off in an arranged marriage to a suitor from Pakistan. When she she decided to reject the marriage arrangement, she reportedly drank bleach while at a family wedding in Pakistan.
Her parents made a television statement in which Mr Ahmed said the incident when Shafilea swallowed some bleach was "totally accidental". He added: "It wasn't actually a bottle of bleach that she drank. It was just a sip that she mistakenly took as a mouth wash."
Ahmed, a taxi driver, also denied that he had he had forced her to marry. ""I respect her wishes; if she didn't wish to marry anybody that was her wish. I would never force my daughter to marry somebody against (their wishes)." Mr Ahmed stated that suspicions had been raised against the family because of racial prejudice.
The eight people arrested today are all members of her extended family from Bradford, West Yorkshire.
Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 22, 2005 10:54 AM
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