[inti-net] Sister reveals details of British Pakistani girl’s ‘murder’

Ref: Honor Killing.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\05\23\story_23-5-2012_pg7_18

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Sister reveals details of British Pakistani girl's 'murder'

* 23-year-old Alesha says her sister was suffocated to death by parents

* Awaits sentence for robbery at her parents' house

By Asif Mehmood

LONDON: Alesha, the younger sister of a murdered British Pakistani girl, Shafilea Ahmed, told police she saw her parents kill her sister by forcing a bag into her mouth and suffocating her, a British court heard on Tuesday.

Iftikhar and Farzana Ahmed are accused of killing their 17-year-old daughter Shafilea at their family home in Warrington in September 2003. The murder was allegedly witnessed by Alesha, now 23, who kept the secret for seven years.

The prosecutor, Andrew Edis QC, told the Chester Crown Court, "She (Alesha) describes what is an act of suffocation by both her parents acting together. She (Shafilea) had a bag forced into her mouth." Edis said Alesha would tell the court how she saw her parents in the kitchen of their home with bin bags and tape, wrapping the body up. "She looked out of the window and saw her father with a large object wrapped in bin bags. She assumed that was the body of her sister. She then heard a car driving off," Edis said.

Shafilea's decomposed remains were discovered in Cumbria in February 2004, but it was not until 2010 that her sister Alesha provided the 'final piece of the puzzle' about her death. Edis told the jury that Alesha was arrested in 2010 for involvement in a robbery at her parents' home, in which three masked men tied up her mother, two sisters and a brother. Six days later she told police her parents had killed Shafilea, he said.

Edis added that Alesha was either telling the truth about the death of her sister "which she has kept under wraps for years for reasons of family loyalty" or saying those things for other reasons because her relationship with her parents "became toxic". He said Alesha, who is on witness protection, was awaiting sentence on the robbery charge and added, "She hasn't received any promises or indeed any inducement prior to when she first made these allegations." Edis described her disclosure as a "bombshell" and said it was either the truth or "a wicked lie made up to help herself". He added, "She now finds herself estranged from the family as a result of what she has said. Her life has turned upside down because of what she has said and what she has done."

The prosecutor said analysis of the scene showed Shafilea's body had been dumped there shortly after she went missing. The jury was told officers bugged the Ahmeds' home and recorded them discussing the possibility that they were under surveillance. At one point, Farzana Ahmed was taped warning 13-year-old Junaid to keep quiet and not talk about events to anyone, he added. She said, "If the slightest thing comes out of your mouth, for all of our lives we will be stuck in real trouble. You will not find your mum or dad. Remember that – they take people away."

Searches also found song lyrics written by Shafilea about her predicament. In one, entitled Happy Families, she wrote, "All they think about is honour ... I jus' wanted to fit in, but my culture was different."

Ahmed and his wife, aged 52 and 49, both deny the murder, while the trial continues.

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