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November 27, 2005

UK: Sad Postscript To Muslim Honour Killing

The Sunday Telegraph details a sad epilogue to a tale of the two lovers, Manna Begum and Arash Ghorbani-Zarin.

We described the case of how Manna's father prevented the pair from seeing each other on October 6:

Manna came from a Bangladeshi Muslim family living in Oxford. Her father, Chomir Ali, had already arranged a marriage for her. Chomir Ali, aged 44, who worked as a waiter in an Oxford restaurant, discovered his daughter's liaisons, and banned Manna from seeing Arash. Mr Ali took away her mobile phone, and prevented her from leaving the house.

Manna was distraught enough to attempt suicide and she soon ran away from home, settling with a friend's aunt. Last year she and Arash became engaged, after she found she was expecting. She went back to the family home in October, and still the father of her child-to-be was prevented from seeing her.

On November 20, Arash was found dead in his green Renault car, with 46 stab wounds to his body. Following his death, his head had been tied to the headrest of the car seat. Three days later a man, said to be Mr Ali, was seen throwing a bag over a wall. In the bag were found a bloody knife and clothes which were found through DNA examination to belong to Mr Ali's son. Mr Ali is on trial for murder, as is his son, and another 16-yr old, who for legal reasons (he is too young) cannot be named.

A week before his murder, Mr Baughan told the court, Arash Ghorban-Zarin had shown an ultrasound scan of his child-to-be to his friends, and invited them to the wedding. He had even given up his course at the University to work in a toy shop, to be able to support Manna and their child.

On November 4 Chomar Ali and his sons 19 year old "Muji" Rahman and Manmoor Rahman were found guilty, a verdict which brought cheers from the court. That evening, Arash's mother appeared on ITV Central news condemning arranged marriages, saying that their son was in love with Manna, and the pair should have been wed.

Manna never had their child, because she had been pressured by her father to have an abortion. The Telegraph reveals that after killing Arash, Chomar Ali flew her to Barcelona in Spain, where she underwent an abortion, even though she was six months pregnant. This operation, which was carried out the Clinicia Ginemedex, is considered illegal for such a late stage of pregnancy unless there is a medical emergency. The operation was illegal under both British and Spanish law.

The Telegraph had exposed the Clinicia Ginemedex in 2004 for allowing late, and illegal abortions to take place, and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service had been referring women to the clinic for late abortions, for purely "social" reasons. The BPAS receives 12 million pounds annually from the NHS.

Mr Ghorbani-Zarin said last night:"Manna's family have not only killed my son but also my unborn grandchild. We would have looked after the child and it would have had a loving family. If what they have done by going to Spain is illegal then a prosecution should follow."

A spokeswoman from the ProLife Alliance campaign group said: "In the tragic case of poor Manna Begum it is unthinkable that Ginemedex might not have considered her a suicide risk in having the abortion had they had any notion whatsoever of her history. Did they know, or care, that she was having an abortion paid for by a father who had orchestrated the killing of her boyfriend?"

The Times earlier reported that Ali had denied to police that he had forced his daughter to have an abortion, but admitted that despite having debts of 15,000 pounds, he had lent Manna 1,000 pounds for the operation. His own father additionally lent her the same amount.

Now, Thames Valley will be investigating Manna Begum, and will be consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether or not to prosecute anyone over her termination.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at November 27, 2005 9:10 PM

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