----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 8:19
PM
Subject: [Sndbox] Tell me more about this
peaceful religion?
Execute me, pleads Muslim who killed his daughter over her
Western lifestyle
By Terri Judd
30 September 2003
A strict Muslim who slit his daughter's throat because he believed she had
become too Westernised pleaded with a judge yesterday to sentence him to
death.
When Abdalla Yones learnt that his 16-year-old child, Heshu, had begun
seeing a Christian teenager he stabbed her 11 times. After breaking down the
door of the bathroom where she had barricaded herself in, he slit her throat
leaving her to bleed to death.
Yesterday, as the 48-year-old Kurd was sentenced to life after becoming the
first person in Britain to admit an "honour killing", the policeman at the
head of the investigation, Commander Andy Baker, warned anyone who carried out
a similar murder - whatever religion they were - would suffer the severest
penalties.
With an estimated 12 such deaths in Britain last year, Scotland Yard vowed
to seek out those who collude in covering up for the killers. Police are
considering such prosecutions in Heshu's case. "We will not tolerate it,
neither should any community," Mr Baker said.
Revealing pictures of the "bright, vibrant" teenager who was killed, Mr
Baker added: "The haunting video images of Heshu Yones put a face to a crime
that has, for too long, been shrouded and obscured by fear of cultural
reprimand."
Sawsan Salim, co-ordinator of the Kurdistan Refugees Women's Organisation,
insisted yesterday that the community condemned such killings. "No excuse
should be given for such a brutal tragedy," he said.
Yones, the Old Bailey heard, had fled the brutality of Saddam Hussein's
regime 10 years ago, bringing his young family to Britain. While they adapted
easily to life in Europe he felt like a "fish out of water".
Heshu, the "jewel" in her father's crown, had enraged him with her
increasingly Western ways and endured "very significant physical abuse" from
him.
Having fallen for Samnizam Elkhouri, a Lebanese-born 18-year-old, she
decided to run away with him. But her secret was revealed when Yones received
a letter, written in Kurdish, describing his daughter as a slut. On 12 October
last year, he "hacked his daughter to death", before cutting his own throat
and jumping from a third floor balcony of their home in Acton, west
London.
Police officers found him injured but alive and went into the flat to
discover Heshu's body. A bent and broken kitchen knife still protruding from
her neck bore testament to the savagery of the attack.
Yones's barrister, Icah Peart, QC, told Judge Neil Denison: "He has asked
me to ask you to pass a sentence of execution. I have made it clear that your
Lordship does not have that power."
Describing the case as a "tragic story arising out of irreconcilable
cultural differences", the judge told Yones: "It is plain you strongly and
genuinely disapproved of the lifestyle in this country of your daughter and
the fact that it was affecting her school work. But, having said that, the
killing and the manner of it was, as you have recognised, an appalling act.
That is why immediately after and then again last month, you tried to take
your own life. I accept it is still your intention.
"But there is only one sentence that the law allows me to pass where the
crime is murder and that is the sentence I do pass - life."
John McGuinness, QC, for the prosecution, said Heshu was a "bubbly, cheeky,
fun-loving" girl who was popular with school friends. She asked friends to lie
for her so she could enjoy herself while evading her father's strict gaze.
She lived a double life, secretly putting on make-up only after she left
home. Having started a relationship with a fellow pupil at William Morris
Academy in Fulham, she began to play truant on a regular basis to spend time
with him.
"There was tension at home particularly with her father. He was not happy
with her lifestyle and wanted her to live within the Muslim religion and
cultural traditions," explained Mr McGuinness.
During a family holiday to Kurdistan last year, Heshu became worried her
father might try and arrange a marriage for her - and she felt trapped.
"It was while there that the defendant might have discovered that his
daughter had a boyfriend and that she was not a virgin," said Mr McGuinness.
Yones pulled a gun on his daughter and threatened to kill her.
On their return to Britain, Heshu started to make plans to run away and
wrote to her father, saying: "Bye Dad, sorry I was so much trouble. Me and you
will probably never understand each other, but I'm sorry I wasn't what you
wanted, but there's some things you can't change." She ended the letter by
saying: "Hey, for an older man you have a good strong punch and kick. I hope
you enjoyed testing your strength on me, it was fun being on the receiving
end. Well done."
When Yones received the letter, he brooded over the contents and decided to
talk to her about it on the day of the murder. A row broke out which
culminated in the attack.
Yones, who spent months in hospital afterwards, but made a full recovery,
first claimed Heshu had been killed by an al-Qa'ida gang before admitting the
killing last week.
Yones's barrister said his client had endured the brutality of Saddam's
regime and become involved in the struggle for independence, just like his
father before him. Eventually, he fled with his wife, daughter and two sons to
the UK where he was granted indefinite leave to remain.
Mr Baker said after the case: "Let this conviction be a message, loud and
clear, to those who misrepresent their own communities and condone or stay
silent over the treatment of women in their midst.
"'Honour killing' is murder and the police and the justice system will come
down on you like a ton of bricks if you are found to be guilty of, or an
accomplice to, such so-called 'crimes of honour'."
MURDER IN THE NAME OF TRADITION
Rukhsana Naz, 19, was strangled by her brother Shazad as her mother
held her legs down. The 19-year-old from Derby had become pregnant by her
sweetheart. But she was already married to another man, in Pakistan, and had
two children by him. In May, 1999, her mother and brother were sentenced to
life at Nottingham Crown Court.
In February last year, Faqir Mohammed was jailed for life for stabbing his
daughter, Shahida, 24, to death. He had returned to their Manchester
home and found her fully clothed on her bed with a boyfriend. He tried to kill
him but Shahida stood in his way. Mohammed said it was his right to kill a man
who was in his daughter's bedroom.
Surjit Kaur Athwal, 26, of Hayes, west London, disappeared on a trip
to India in 1998 after she began divorce proceedings. Her family believes she
was the victim of an honour killing, a theory supported by police. Her husband
was arrested but denied any involvement. Three other relatives were held, then
released without charge.
In January this year, Sahda Bibi, 21, was stabbed to death on the
day of her wedding in Birmingham, after refusing to enter an arranged marriage
with another man. West Midlands Police have charged a 25-year-old man with her
murder and are still hunting Ms Bibi's cousin, who is believed to have fled to
Pakistan.
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