Murder of Samaira Nazir
Samaira Nazir (died 23 April 2005)[1][2] was a 25-year-old British Pakistani woman who was murdered in London by members of her family in an honour killing.
Nazir was a graduate of Thames Valley University and worked as a recruitment consultant. She fell in love with an Afghan asylum seeker in Britain and planned to marry him, against her family's wishes. She had rejected the suitors her family wanted her to marry. Her family rejected the Afghan because he was from a different caste. After an argument, her brother Azhar Nazir (30) and a cousin, Imran (17), murdered her by stabbing her in the family home in Southall, west London, more than 18 times using four knives. The attack was performed in front of other family members, including two of her nieces, aged two and four.
Nazir Afzal, area director for the Crown Prosecution Service,[3] was responsible for the prosecution of her relatives, and described the beliefs that led to her murder as "tragic and outdated".[4] On 14 July 2006 an Old Bailey judge sentenced Azhar Nazir and Imran Mohammed to life imprisonment. Her father was also charged but died before the trial.[5] John Reid, a Detective Inspector from the Metropolitan Police who worked on the case, said: "There is nothing at all honourable about her brutal death."[6][7]
See also
Honour killings in the United Kingdom:
- Murder of Shafilea Ahmed
- Rania Alayed
- Banaz Mahmod
- The killing in India of Surjit Athwal was planned in the UK.
- Murder of Tulay Goren
- Murder of Heshu Yones
Honour killings of people of Pakistani heritage outside of Pakistan and the UK:
- Sandeela Kanwal (United States)
- Honour killing of Ghazala Khan (Denmark)
- Murder of Aqsa Parvez (Canada)
- Hina Saleem (Italy)
- Honour killing of Sadia Sheikh (Belgium)
See also: Honour killing in Pakistan
References
- Crown Prosecution Service: Murder of Samaira Nazir Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, July 14, 2006
- Samaira Nazir's brother and cousin on trial, May 9, 2006
- "Two given life for honour killing". BBC. 14 July 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- Butt, Riazat (14 July 2006). "'You're not my mother any more,' shouted Samaira. Then her family killed her". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
- Bennhold, Katrin (27 September 2013). "A Muslim Prosecutor in Britain, Fighting Forced Marriages and Honor Crimes". The New York Times.
- Butt, Riazat (15 July 2006). "'You're not my mother any more,' shouted Samaira. Then her family killed her". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 24 December 2012.
- Steele, John (15 July 2006). "Woman stabbed to death by family for loving wrong man". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 24 December 2012.