Dead UK teen's sister: Our parents murdered her over Westernized lifestyle/Shafilea Ahmed was allegedly murdered by her parents.Update 07/09/12: Mother says she saw husband abuse Shafilea!!/Both Parents found GUILTY of Murder!!!!

Very interesting articles w/pics. This does not shock me one iota.

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Shafilea Ahmed murder trial: Parents sentenced to life for killing daughter out of ‘shame’

Shafilea Ahmed was killed in 2003.

Published on Saturday 4 August 2012 00:00

A COUPLE, who murdered their teenage daughter because they believed her “westernised” ­behaviour shamed her family, have been jailed for life, nine years after her death.

Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and wife Farzana, 49, will serve a ­minimum of 25 years for killing Shafilea, 17.

They suffocated her with a plastic bag at their Warrington home on 11 September, 2003, after a row in which her mother urged Ahmed to “finish it here”.

He showed no emotion as he was sentenced but his wife sobbed loudly.

Judge Mr Justice Roderick Evans told the pair:

“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 your social and cultural attitudes were those of rural Pakistan and it was those which you imposed upon your children.

“Shafilea was a determined girl who wanted to live a life which was normal in the country in which you had chosen to live. You could not tolerate the life that Shafilea wanted to live. You wanted your family to live in ­Pakistan in Warrington.

“Although she went to local schools, you objected to her socialising with girls from what has been referred to as the white community.

“You objected to her wearing western clothes and … to her having contact with boys.

“She was being squeezed between two cultures, the culture she saw around her and wanted to embrace, and the culture and way of life you wanted to impose on her.”

He added: “The conflict between you and her increased in the last year of her life and you tried to impose your cultural values and attitudes on her by intimidation, bullying and a use of physical violence.”

Shafilea drank bleach in a bid to kill herself after being taken to Pakistan for an arranged marriage. Her parents saw her as bring shame on them in the eyes of their community.

The judge said they had wanted to rid themselves of what they saw was a “problem” and decided the answer was to kill her in front of their four other children.

He said he did not take a view on whether their son, Junyad, played a role in the killing. “But I have no doubt that, as the result of the distorted upbringing and values to which you subjected him, he told his surviving sisters within minutes of them seeing Shafilea murdered by you that Shafilea deserved it.”

Shafilea’s body was dumped in undergrowth on a riverbank in Cumbria.

Her sisters were told to lie if asked about her disappearance.

But, after an initial police inquiry failed to uncover enough evidence to bring a prosecution, it was an alleged robbery at the family home, aided by her younger sister Alesha, that provided the breakthrough.

Alesha told police, and later the court, that her parents repeatedly attacked and abused Shafilea as she grew up, demanding she wear traditional clothes and agree to an arranged marriage.

Crying in the witness box, Alesha said her parents had held a terrified Shafilea down on the settee in their living room as the plastic bag was forced into her mouth.

“You could tell she was gasping for air,” she said. She said she watched her sister die: “That was it, she was gone.”

She described how the other children ran upstairs to their bedrooms in shock, and she saw her father carry Shafilea’s body to the car wrapped in a blanket.

The children were later told to say nothing to the authorities amid fear that they would suffer the same fate as their sister.

Shafilea’s remains were discovered in the River Kent, in Cumbria, in February 2004.

It was not until 2010 that Alesha provided the “final piece of the puzzle” about her death, the prosecution said.

Alesha’s version of events was corroborated in writings her younger sister Mevish gave to her friend Shahin Munir in 2008, which emerged shortly after the start of Alesha’s evidence. Mevish, who supported her parents’ defence, told the court the writings were a “fiction” which Alesha used to base her story on.

The couple showed little reaction when a jury unanimously found them guilty.

Iftikhar Ahmed later turned to police officers sitting near the dock and said: “F*** off.”

Their other children Junyad, Mevish and the youngest, who cannot be named for legal reasons, all broke down in tears.

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By Nigel Bunyan11:16AM BST 07 Aug 2012

Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, set up his escape plan as Cheshire Police began to close in on him and his wife, Farzana, 49.

Patricia Jervis, a former head of law at Warrington Council, told the Liverpool Echo: “When Shafilea disappeared, we had a child protection conference with the various agencies like the police and social services.

“A social worker had been round to the house and we knew there was a briefcase in the hall which had gold bars and his children’s passports in it, just in case he had to leave the country at the drop of a hat.

“He was ready to flee the country if it came to it.”

Shafilea, 17, was suffocated in September 2003 because her parents, both from the same village in Pakistan, could not bear her westernised behaviour.

Both Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed were jailed for life last week after being convicted of murder at Chester Crown Court.
They were told they would serve at least 25 years.

They suffocated their daughter in front of their four other children at their home after she rejected a forced marriage in Pakistan.
The couple escaped justice for almost nine years, accusing officers of victimisation and stereotyping for suspecting them after her body was found months later in a river in Cumbria.

Detectives made a breakthrough in 2010, when Shafilea’s younger sister admitted having seen her mother and father kill their daughter.
Mr Justice Roderick Evans, at Chester Crown Court, told her parents: “Although you lived in Warrington, your social and cultural attitudes were those of rural Pakistan and it was those you imposed upon your children.

“She [Shafilea] 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 upon her … an expectation that she live in a sealed cultural environment separate from the culture of the country in which she lived was unrealistic, destructive and cruel.”

He added: “Your concern about being shamed in your community was greater than your love of your child.”

Shafilea, who was born in Bradford and dreamed of being a lawyer, was always aware that her parents wanted an arranged marriage for her in Pakistan.

Her father imposed his strict code despite having previously been married to a Danish woman, with whom he had a child and enjoyed drinking and discos. She left him after he married Farzana who was already pregnant.

In her teens Shafilea regularly clashed with her parents over clothing, money and especially boyfriends.

In 2003, after she had run away, they drugged her and put her on a flight to Pakistan, to be married to a man ten years older. But while staying with her grandparents in rural Punjab, she deliberately swallowed bleach. Her throat was so badly damaged that she had to return home, preventing the marriage.

Back in Warrington Shafilea was regularly locked in her room, starved and beaten. On Sept 11 2003, Farzana picked her daughter up from her job. Seeing Shafilea in what she considered indecent clothes, she accused the girl of bringing shame on the family. At home, she pinned Shafilea down and told her husband in Punjabi: “Just finish it here.” The other children saw them force a plastic bag into her mouth and choke her to death.

The couple were arrested in December 2003, but when detectives held a public appeal for information, the Ahmeds gatecrashed and protested their innocence.

Finally, in August 2010, police arrested Shafilea’s younger sister Alesha on suspicion of organising a robbery at the family home. Alesha, who is now 21, told officers that she had seen her mother and father kill Shafilea. During the trial the couple, with the support of three of their children, maintained their innocence. But after eight weeks, Farzana changed her story, claiming her husband had been behind the attack and she had supported him out of fear.

Shafilea’s brother Junyad remained loyal to his parents. The judge said: “I have no doubt that, as the result of the distorted upbringing and values to which you subjected him, he told his surviving sisters within minutes of them seeing Shafilea murdered by you that Shafilea deserved it.”

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4 September 2012 Last updated at 11:31 ET

Shafilea Ahmed went missing in September 2003 and her body was found in Cumbria six months later
A mother jailed for life for murdering her daughter is seeking permission to appeal against her conviction, the CPS has said.

Farzana Ahmed and her husband Iftikhar were found guilty of murdering Shafilea in July.

The 17-year-old went missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, in 2003 and her body was found in the River Kent in Cumbria six months later.

The Court of Appeal has received an appeal application, the CPS said.

The grounds for appeal have not been disclosed.

Mr and Mrs Ahmed were each sentenced to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison following a three-month trial at Chester Crown Court.

The prosecution claimed she was murdered by her parents because they believed she brought shame on the family with her Western lifestyle.

'Just finish it'
After her body was found, police became convinced her parents were responsible for her death, but found no evidence until Shafilea's younger sister, Alesha Ahmed, was arrested in connection with an armed robbery at the family home in August 2010.

In a subsequent police interview she said she had seen her parents kill her sister seven years earlier.

During the trial, she told the court her parents pushed Shafilea on to the settee in their house and she heard her mother say "just finish it here".

She said the parents then forced a plastic bag into the teenager's mouth and killed her in front of their other children.

Taxi driver Mr Ahmed had claimed Shafilea ran away from home in the middle of the night and he never saw her again.

Mrs Ahmed had denied claims that they had attacked Shafilea, but during the trial she changed her account, claiming she saw her husband beat their daughter on the night of the murder.

She also claimed he had threatened to do the same to her and their other children if she ever asked him what happened to Shafilea.

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By Adele Robinson, Sky News Correspondent | Sky News – 1 hour 33 minutes ago

The founder of a charity supporting victims of forced marriage and so called "honour abuse" is calling for a Serious Case Review into the death of Shafilea Ahmed.

Jasvinder Sanghera, the CEO of Karma Nirvana, says questions need to be asked and lessons learned after the 17-year-old was murdered in 2003 by her parents Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed.

The teenager went missing from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, and her body was found in the River Kent in Cumbria six months later.
The couple had suffocated Shafilea with a plastic bag in an apparent "honour killing".

Jasvinder Sanghera wants there to be a closer look at what happened before Shafilea’s death.

"I’m not saying any of the organisations involved with Shafilea were at fault, but we need to be learning from her experience, what could have been done differently," she said.

"She was known to social services, health, police… Sadly Shafilea will not be the last victim murdered in this way…Her life is the life of many thousands of young Asian girls across the UK."

In February 2003, Shafilea was taken to Pakistan where her parents tried to force her into marriage - something they always denied.
But during her stay the schoolgirl collapsed after drinking bleach, severely burning her throat.

Her parents' trial heard how the marriage fell through, bringing shame on the family, according to her parents’ perception of their traditional values.

At a national awareness roadshow highlighting honour abuse and forced marriages in Shafilea's home town of Warrington, many others spoke of their experiences, including 30-year-old Shahina Swain.

At the age of 17 she was taken on a family holiday to Bangladesh where she was forced into an arranged marriage.

Days afterwards she was eventually rescued by a relative who took her back to the UK. She is now estranged from her family.

She said: "Over the last 10 years I have built a life for myself where I am happy, contented, safe, stable and secure.

"My hope now is that there is someone who is always there for those who fear they will be taken abroad and forced to marry, who are already married; unhappy and need support in some way to rescue them."

Karma Nirvana has received nearly 4,000 calls already this year from women and men concerned about forced marriages or honour abuse.
Ms Sanghera wants the charity roadshows to "empower" victims to come forward.

"We feel it is important to keep the momentum on this issue going and to bring the good work that is happening across the country to a platform," she said.

"There are still high levels of under-reporting on this issue nationally and we need to raise the profile on this issue to ensure that more victims come forward to obtain the help they need."

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12:03pm Friday 16th November 2012 By Matthew Hobbs

THE sister of Shafilea Ahmed has escaped a jail sentence for organising a violent robbery at the family home because she saw her sister brutally murdered.

Southwark Crown Court heard today of the 'extraordinary mitigation' of Alesha Ahmed, aged 24, who orchestrated the robbery at 151 Liverpool Road, Great Sankey on August 25, 2010. Mr Justice Irwin described it as a 'truly exceptional sentencing exercise'.

He sentenced Ms Ahmed, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

Mr Irwin said:

"Alesha Ahmed, yours is an extraordinary and terrifying story.

"You were 15 years of age when your parents murdered your older sister Shafilea in front of your eyes.

"You were forced for years to carry this darkest of secrets, as your parents sought to evade justice.

"You brought men to the house for the purpose of robbery.

"You acknowledge you knew that was the purpose.

"The psychiatrist has considered your culpability in relation to the robbery and the motivation for it.

"He suggests that it took place in the context of a 'very disturbed state of mind'.

"Your parents were suspected of the murder from early on.

"However, in 2006 Queen's Counsel had advised there was insufficient evidence available for a successful prosecution.

"It was your cooperation which changed that.

"Because of what you did the truth emerged.

"The complex cases unit of the Crown Prosecution Service have struggled to identify any other case where the assistance of a witness has been as important as yours, or where the impact of the case of that witness has been so great."

Ms Ahmed was described as the inside woman on the job.

The court heard how mum Farzana, brother Junyad, sister Mevish and the youngest sister, who cannot be named, were tied up by masked men armed with a semi automatic pistol, hammer and metal bar during the 'terrifying' raid.

Junyad, aged 22, was kicked in the head with metal capped boots, and 21-year-old Mevish was beaten with the hammer.

The pistol was pointed at 49-year-old Farzana with the gunman threatening to kill the whole family.

Prosecuting, Owen Edwards described how Alesha was heard to talk to the gang, their faces covered with scarves and masks, telling them to knock down a door to get to valuables. She was the only one not to be tied up.

Jewellery was taken at an estimated value of between £10,000 and £30,000.

Cash to the value of £3,000 was also taken. Junyad and the youngest sibling managed to break free with the elder brother attempting to fight one of the intruders. He was then beaten.

The sibling smashed a window with the hammer to scream for help.

After witnesses were alerted and the men left, Ms Ahmed too attempted to leave but was stopped by her angry family, the court heard.

Police arrived and then arrested Ms Ahmed, who admitted the robbery.

Defending, Isabella Forshall QC said the events had been traumatic and that the former Great Sankey High School pupil deserved to avoid prison.

"This particular house was a killing ground for Shafilea," said Mrs Forshall.

"And its privacy was a scene and instrument of brutal oppression for Shafilea and the other children.

"It really is a case where my lord can look very differently at the seriousness of the offence. "Within days she provided a devastating statement about the murder of her sister to police.

"She rendered a valuable service not just to Shafilea and justice but to our community and society." Ms Ahmed, who pleased guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, will remain in witness protection.

Mr Irwin added: "Your future life will be overshadowed by all that has happened and it may be a long time before you achieve peace of mind and anything like normality. In my view this is a case for mercy."

Iftikhar Ahmed and Farzana Ahmed are currently serving life sentences for murder.

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WOW!!

1:20pm Friday 25th January 2013 in News Exclusive By Matthew Hobbs

THE mother of Shafilea Ahmed has been denied the chance to appeal against the conviction for murdering her daughter, the Warrington Guardian can exclusively reveal.

Farzana Ahmed, aged 49, had her application rejected at the Court of Appeal after a top judge refused her attempts to overturn the 25 year prison sentence imposed for killing the 17-year-old.

A spokesman for the Judiciary said Mrs Ahmed has until Thursday to appeal that decision.

If she decides to do so, her case will be considered again, this time by three judges.

They have the power to accept her application to appeal.

If they grant her permission, a full appeal hearing would take place at the Court of Appeal at a later date.

However, if they say no, and decide she has no grounds to reverse the murder conviction, her appeal will be over.

Mrs Ahmed, along with husband Iftikhar, aged 52, was found guilty of murder by a jury of 12 in a unanimous decision after an 11 week trial at Chester Crown Court in August last year.

Iftikhar has not applied to appeal the murder conviction, the spokesman added.

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:cheering:

8:00am Friday 19th April 2013 in News

FARZANA Ahmed will continue with her final bid to overturn the conviction for murdering daughter Shafilea with a date now set for her latest hearing.

Mrs Ahmed, jailed for life in August last year, will seek permission to appeal the sentence at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday at 10.30am.

A spokesman for the Judiciary said: “I can now confirm that this renewed application seeking permission to appeal is listed at the Court of Appeal, Royal Courts of Justice.

“It is just a short hearing to consider whether she should be granted permission to appeal.

“If she is a date would be arranged in due course for the substantive appeal.”

As revealed exclusively in the Warrington Guardian, Mrs Ahmed, of Liverpool Road, Great Sankey, has already attempted to overturn the 25 year prison sentence.

In January her initial application against the conviction for suffocating daughter Shafilea to death in her Great Sankey home was rejected by the Court of Appeal.

However, the mum-of-four, who spent her 50th birthday in prison, appealed that decision on January 30.

In what could prove to be a last ditch attempt to be acquitted, Mrs Ahmed’s legal team will present her case to a panel of three judges.

If they overrule the decision of the previous judge, she will proceed to a full hearing at the Court of Appeal at a later date.

Failure at this latest stage would mean only the European courts would remain open to her to continue the appeal.

Husband Iftikhar Ahmed, aged 52, also jailed for 25 years, will not appeal the murder conviction.

The two defendants were both found guilty after an 11 week trial at Chester Crown Court in August last year.

Since Shafilea’s disappearance in September 2003 both parents denied any involvement.

They lied to police continuously with Mr Ahmed even making a tearful appeal on Crimewatch for his daughter’s safe returned.

But the 17-year-old former Great Sankey High School pupil was already dead.

Her body had been dumped in the River Kent in Cumbria, not found until February 2004.

The court case proved dramatic, with Mrs Ahmed blaming her husband for the murder.

Guilty verdicts for both parents ended a near nine year battle for justice.

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She needs to rot in prison. That's more than her daughter had.

Ya, good luck w/that what..2nd appeal? Not happening!