Parents are sentenced for death of British 'victim of honor killing'

The Justice of the United Kingdom on Friday condemned a couple in 2003 for the murder of his 17 year old daughter, Shafilea Ahmed, a British of Pakistani origin who was the victim of an 'honor killing'. Iftikhar Ahmed, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, were sentenced to life imprisonment by a court of Warrington, Cheshire, northern England, and must meet a minimum sentence of 25 years. They denied any involvement in their daughter's death. The main reason for the crime were the habits of Western Shafilea, which, according to prosecutors, shamed the family: Iftikhar and Farzana wanted the girl to accept an arranged marriage to a Pakistani, but she refused, wanted to date and become a lawyer. During the hearing this Friday, the judge told the defendants: "Your concern with the possibility of shame to their community was greater than his love for his daughter." Shafilea disappeared in September 2003, and his body was found five months later in an advanced state of decomposition in a river 12 km away from the house of the young. The parents claimed not to know his whereabouts. During the trial, prosecutor Andrew Edis said the younger sister of Shafilea, Alesha, parents saw the girl suffocated with a bag in his mouth. Then saw them with bags and duct tape, implying that they planned to hide the body. The teenager was last seen alive on September 11, 2003, when her mother sought in school. His disappearance was not reported to police by parents but by a professor of Shafilea, who would have heard that the girl's sister, Alesha, had confessed to friends that the crime was committed by parents. According to prosecutors, Alesha denied having said anything and did not speak about the incident for seven years until he was arrested for taking part in a robbery at the house of the parents themselves.On occasion, she reportedly confessed to police that his parents "worked closely" to kill his sister. The jury also heard the prosecution case that the police placed wiretaps on Ahmed's family home, after the disappearance of Alesha, and recorded Iftikhar speak with their four other children that they "should not comment on anything at school, or there would be serious problems."