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February 6, 2008

UK: Muslim Family Guilty Of "Allowing" Honor Murder

Muslim honor killing is almost always a "family" business. When Samaira Nazir was stabbed to death by her brother and young cousin, her father and mother were in the house. Her two nieces aged two and four were so close to the event, they became spattered with blood. Her father fled to Pakistan to escape justice, but her mother was never prosecuted.

When young Kurdish woman Banaz Mahmod Babakir Agha took a boyfriend, her family conspired to murder her. Her father and uncle were found guilty of her murder, and a "family friend" also pleaded guilty to murder. Another unrelated member of the Kurdish south London community pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.

Yesterday, a precedent was set in Leeds Crown Court, where women members of a family, who had done nothing to prevent the brutal killing of a woman in their home, were found guilty of allowing the killing to take place. They were the first people to be charged under the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 where the victim had been an adult. The law has previously only been used to successfully prosecute in cases where children have died.

The woman who died in this case was a 19-year old woman called Sabia Rani, who had been brought from Pakistan to partake in an arranged marriage with 25-year old Shazad Khan. On Sunday, May 21 2006, five months after she had come to Britain to experience "married" life, Sabia was found dead. The Home Office pathologist who examined her body said that in 16 years of his career, it was the worst case he had seen. 90 percent of Sabia's body had been covered in bruises, and 15 of her ribs were broken.

On January 11, 2007, Shazad Khan was given a life sentence for Sabia's murder. Detective Superintendent Steve Fear of West Yorkshire Police said: "This was one of the worst examples of domestic abuse I have seen. Sabia Rani was subjected to sustained and systematic abuse over a long period of time in her own home, a home which was little more than a prison to her. Shazad Khan's conviction sends a strong message to abusers that we will make every effort to ensure you are convicted of your crime. I hope it also encourages other victims of domestic violence not to suffer in silence but to come forward and speak to those who can help them."

At the time, the Recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC said: "I can't help but note that others in that house, that very intimate family, must have known."

Sabia Khan had problems adjusting to life in the home of her new "family" in Oakwood Grange in the Roundhay district of Leeds. There were eight other members of her husband's extended family living in the same house.

She had first met Shazad Khan, her first cousin, in December 2002, when he had visited Pakistan for a family funeral. A marriage contract was signed on December 25, 2002, but they did not live as a couple together until three years later when she came to Britain. A wedding ceremony took place in January 2006. The "marriage" was not happy.

Her "husband" was annoyed that she did not place sandwiches in his lunch box when he went to work. Khan expected her to wear make up but she did not know how to apply it properly. She found it difficult shopping at the supermarket. She was not allowed out of the house on her own.

Khan held down three jobs. At one of these, he worked in a garage, where he also took did his physical training. Khan's mother, Phullan Bibi, believed Sabia was possessed by evil spirits. A week before Sabia died, she took one of the girl's garments and clothing belonging to Shazad Khan and herself to a "holy man". This individual lived in Bradford. Khan said at his trial: "He measured them, tied knots in them, read some holy script, blew on the garments and then untied them and measured them again. There was nothing about mine. My mother's had got shorter and he said that was because she had been ill. Sabia's had got bigger and he said there was something on her...an evil spirit or evil force. He wrote down a manuscript which we had to hang outside the house, so it blew in the wind, to ward off the evil spirit.... I do believe in evil spirits and black magic and the power of prayer and all that."

The family were told not to say anything to Sabina until they had visited the Bradford "holy man" on the following week. Before that, Sabia had died. Khan lied to the court, maintaining that Sabia had provoked fights, fighting with him up until she was killed. This would have been impossible. The pathologist had maintained that for three weeks before her death, Sabia would have been effectively crippled by excruciating pain.

Shazad Khan claimed to have struck and kicked Sabia in self-defense when she attacked him, allegedly enraged that he had a day job, a night job and a weekend job.

Sabia's body was discovered fully clothed in a bath full of cold water in an upstairs bathroom when paramedics visited the house, but she had been placed there. Police were called, and Khan had told them: "I don't believe this. I work hard. I have got three jobs. Look what's happened."

Simon Myerson QC, prosecuting at Shazad Khan's trial, said: "She died because of the extensive injuries inflicted on her by her husband. The injuries included bruising all over her body and her bodily system broke down."

The judge at his trial told Khan: "I am satisfied that what happened in this case, is one of the major contributing factors, was the fact that you were working to such an extent that when you came home you were short-tempered and paid her no attention at all. You beat her unmercifully. You beat her to the extent that the skin and underlying tissue had begun to separate and she had fractures to her ribs."

Yesterday, Khan's mother, Phullan Bibi, 52, his sisters, Nazia Naureen, 28, and Uzma Khan, 23, and Uzma's husband Majid Hussain, 28, were all found guilty of ignoring Sabia's death.

The news is carried by the Times, the Telegraph, Evening Standard, Daily Mail, Yorkshire Post, Yorkshire Evening Post and the BBC.

When the verdict was read out, there was chaos in the courtroom at Leeds Crown Court. Uzma Khan, the sister of Shazad Khan, had maintained during the trial that Sabia had been affected by spirits.

Yesterday, Uzma Khan screamed "I'm innocent, I'm not guilty, I'm not guilty." Phullan Bibi, Shazad Khan's 52-year old mother, shouted abuse and cursed in Punjabi, then pounded her hands on the bench before she collapsed.

During the trial, Phullan Bibi had told the court that she saw Shazad Khan and Sabia Rani arguing in the garage. This was obviously a lie, considering the post mortem evidence. Sabia Rani would not have ben capable of walking to the garage.

Pathologist professor Archibald Malcolm had said in the current trial that the damaged ribs had been caused by "hard kicks, stamps or very hard punches", and said: "I believe there are three episodes of trauma here. One about three weeks prior to death, one about two weeks prior to death and a further episode of trauma 12 hours or less prior to death."

During the current trial, prosecutor Simon Myerson QC said: "There must have come a time when each defendant knew that Sabia Rani was ill and in pain. There must have come a time when they knew or suspected Shazad Khan was the cause of her illness and pain. They must have known what was happening was unlawful and carried a risk of further harm to her."

Myerson told the court: "This family disliked Shabia from almost the beginning. That dislkike grew until it turned into violence by Shazad Khan." He said that Khan's mother Phullan Bibi shouted continuously at Sabia over petty things, causing the young woman to "tip toe around the house trying not to upset her."

Uzma Khan and her husband Majid Hussain denied perjury during Shazad Khan's trial. Judge James Stewart QC discharged the jury from making a verdict on perjury charges against the pair during this trial.

Malcolm Taylor, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said after the conclusion of the trial: "The message must be that if families or other people with a duty to look after those who need protection deliberately choose not to do so, their neglect will not be ignored by the law enforcement agencies, and prosecution will follow."

Judge James Stewart QC told the convicted family members: "You should all return to the court in preparation for a custodial sentence." The four have been released on conditional bail, but will be sentenced on March 10.

Phullan Bibi had sat "stony-faced" throughout much of the trial, states Roundhay Today. The family had recently moved to Roundhay from Harehills, another part of Leeds. Bibi had worked as a seamstress, but her clients recalled that she was "bossy". Her husband was not mentioned in the trial, and worshippers at Harehills Mosque said that he was a "respectable and reserved" individual. He was known locally as "Bolla" Khan.

One acquaintance of the family has said: "They have been shunned by the community. They have become pariahs."

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 6, 2008 9:54 AM

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