Banaz Mahmod

was 20 years old, of Kurdish descent, living in Britain with her family, in love with a man, murdered and stuffed in a suitcase, left lying under rubbish in a garden in Birmingham. She asked for help. She told the police that she was likely to be killed by her family. She escaped one murder attempt. How much more did she have to do? I am so angry. You can read the story here. Click the link and watch the video that Banaz' boyfriend shot, as Banaz lay in hospital after the first murder attempt. Police who were called to assist Banaz thought that she was "a drunk" and failed to take her complaint seriously. Banaz' sister had aleady been taken into the care of social services after suffering years of beatings and abuse. At 17, Banaz had been forced to marry a man who raped her. She attempted suicide. Her father and uncle said that she brought shame on her family. They decided to hire people to kill her.

Today's Times newspaper has the headline: Police 'Failed' Victim of Honour Killing. I can't be alone in thinking that the quotation marks are applied to the wrong word.


**UPDATE**

From The Telegraph Online:

The 20-year-old's father, Mahmod Mahmod, 54, was among the three men sentenced, and will have to serve a minimum term of 20 years.

His brother Ari, 51, will serve a minimum of 23 years.

A third killer Mohamad Hama, 30, was told he would spend at least 17 years in prison.

Banaz Mahmod was strangled because her family disapproved of her relationship with her boyfriend.

Hama and three other men who have left the country killed her during two hours of torture at her home.

She was raped and subjected to degrading sex acts before succumbing to an agonising death.

The murder was ordered by her Iraqi Kurd father and uncle after her affair with fellow Kurd Rahmat Sulemani, 29, was discovered.

It's not enough.