 My sister was STRANGLED and STUFFED IN SUITCASE
SHE was too Westernised - too Westernised for using hairspray, too Westernised for ending her abusive arranged marriage.
So her father ordered to have her killed.
And nobody - not even the British police - heeded her cries for help.
All the while up to her death, Ms Banaz Mahmod, 20, was abused and beaten by her father and brother for bringing 'shame' onto her family.
Yesterday, her father, Mahmod Mahmod, was found guilty by a UK court for her murder.
The British-Muslim girl's body was uncovered by the police last year, three months after she was strangled with a boot lace, stuffed in a suitcase and buried in a backyard.
Mahmod Mahmod, 52, and his brother Ari Mahmod, 51, planned the honour killing during a family meeting, prosecutors told the court.
Two others have pleaded guilty while two more have fled the country. Sentencing is expected this month.
The Kurdish family arrived in the UK in 1998 when Ms Banaz was just 11.
During the three-month trial, prosecutors said the girl's father began beating her at an early age for using hairspray and becoming too Westernised.
Testifying in court, Ms Banaz's sister, Ms Bekhal Mahmod, 22, recounted how their uncle once told her sister that she would have already been 'turned to ashes' if she were his daughter.
The guilty parties accused Ms Banaz of shaming the family when she ended her abusive arranged marriage and fell in love with Iranian Kurd Rahmat Suleimani, 29.
Ms Banaz tried to run away from home when she was a teenager, but was later sent an audio tape in which her father warned he would kill her sisters, her mother and himself if she did not return home, her sister said.
Testifying in a full black burqa, Ms Bekhal recounted how Ms Banaz was hospitalised after returning home because their brother attacked her.
The brother said he had been paid by their father to 'finish her off', but in the end was unable to do it.
Ms Banaz first went to police in December 2005 when she suspected her uncle was trying to kill her and her boyfriend.
Then, on New Year's Eve, she escaped an alleged attempt by her father to intoxicate her and kill her.
The police dismissed her claims.
Laying in her hospital bed after the escape, Ms Banaz recorded a dramatic video message saying she was 'really scared' .
The videotape, taken by Mr Rahmat at the hospital, was shown to the jury during the trial.
The boyfriend feared it could be the only chance she would have to detail her fears.  To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. | 
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