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Murder of Samaira Nazir

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Samaira Nazir
Samaira Nazir
Born1979 (1979)
London, England
Died (aged 25)
Southall, London, England
Cause of deathMurder by stabbing
EducationThames Valley University
OccupationRecruitment Consultant
Known forHonour killing victim

Samaira Nazir (c. 1979 – 23 April 2005) was a 25-year-old British Pakistani woman who was murdered by her brother and cousin in an honour killing in Southall, London.[1]

Nazir was murdered for refusing to enter into an arranged marriage and for rejecting her parents' choices of suitors from Pakistan. Instead, she became engaged to someone of her own choosing who was from a different caste and deemed unsuitable.[2]

Samaira's father was also implicated in her murder but fled to Pakistan whilst on bail. His family claimed that he died while a fugitive in Pakistan.[3]

Background

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Samaira was born circa 1979 to Azhar Nazir, Sr. and Irshad Begum. Described as "the brightest of the family", she studied travel and tourism at Thames Valley University, taking a directorship role at her brother's recruitment consultancy business following graduation.[3][4]

The Nazir family also owned the Rana Brothers Grocery store in Southall Broadway where Samaira's brother, Azhar Nazir, worked and first met Salman Mohammed. Mohammed had arrived in the United Kingdom from Afghanistan as an illegal immigrant in 2000 and had approached Nazir for help finding accommodation and work. Samaira met Mohammed through his involvement with her brother; their relationship developed over several years, but knowing that Samaira's family would not approve, they kept the relationship a secret until, ultimately, they fell in love and decided they wanted to marry.[2][4]

Samaira had twice been taken to Pakistan to find a suitor for an arranged marriage but rejected her family's choices. Her family rejected Mohammed because of his origin; he was from a lower caste,[2] and they felt he wanted to marry Samaira to have access to the family wealth.[3][5] Additionally, he'd already contracted a marriage of convenience to support his immigration status and Samaira's brother claimed he was dishonest and involved in illegal activities.[5]

Regardless, in March 2005, Samaira told her family that she was engaged to Mohammed; Mohammed claimed that Samaira's father had threatened him with a knife and that her brother had threatened to kill them both as a result of their engagement.[3]

Murder and investigation

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On 23 April 2005, Mohammed and Samaira had attempted to meet with her mother away from the family home, but her mother refused; Nazir then instructed Samaira to return home, where he, her father and mother were waiting for her.[2] Also in attendance was Imran Mohammed (real name Kashif Rana[3]), a 17-year-old illegal immigrant from Pakistan; referred to as a "distant cousin", he lived in an out-building in the garden of the Nazir family home and was considered part of the family.[5]

A bitter argument broke out about Samaira's future and she was held down and attacked by her brother Azhar Nazir, Imran Mohammed and, allegedly, her father as well.[6] She was stabbed multiple times and her throat was slashed in what was described as a "prolonged and frenzied attack".[3] Neighbours were alerted by her screams for help; one neighbour knocked on the door but was rebuffed by Nazir, who claimed his sister was "having fits." At one point, Samaira managed to open the front door in a bid to escape, but her brother pulled her back inside by her hair.[5][3] The attack was witnessed by Samaira's mother and Nazir's daughters, aged two and four.[7]

From the outset Nazir denied that he had played any part in his sister's murder, apportioning blame entirely on Imran Mohammed. Mohammed openly admitted responsibility for Samaira's death and insisted that he had acted alone.[5][7] The police and prosecutors were not convinced and suspected that Mohammed had been instructed to kill Samaira by other members of the family, with prosecutor Nazir Afzal stating: "We knew there was a wider web of guilt (...) We had to break the omertà, the code of silence. We knew the people involved would not talk."[8]

Covert listening devices were deployed in the family home, and sufficient circumstantial evidence was obtained to justify the arrest of Nazir and Nazir Sr.[8] Both were charged,[9] but Nazir Sr. was released on bail and fled to Pakistan before the trial.[8] The family claimed that he later died there, but the police were sceptical.[3]

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Azhar Franklin Nazir and Imran Mohammed stood trial at the Central Criminal Court, with Nazir maintaining his innocence and Mohammed using the partial defence of diminished responsibility. The prosecution's case was one of joint enterprise.[5]

Nazir acknowledged that he did not approve of Samaira's relationship and accepted that he was present when she was killed, but he maintained that he had only witnessed the latter part of the struggle between his sister and Imran Mohammed, that he had seen this from a distance, and that he had neither participated in the murder nor played a part in planning or executing it. Despite claiming to be "horrified" by what he was witnessing, he conceded that he did not try to intervene. The forensic evidence of airborne blood on his clothing was not consistent with his account of witnessing the murder from a distance, and two witnesses testified that Samaira was dragged back into the house when she tried to escape, one of whom identified Nazir directly as the individual who had dragged Samaira back into the house.[5][7]

On 15 June 2006, Imran Mohammed was found unanimously guilty of murder. On 16 June 2006, Nazir was convicted of the same[10][11] by a 11-1 majority verdict.[12] On 14 July 2006, both were sentenced to life imprisonment; Mohammed was detailed at Her Majesty's pleasure for a minimum of 10 years and Nazir received a minimum tariff of 20 years.[4]

Nazir Afzal, area director for the Crown Prosecution Service,[13] who was responsible for the prosecution, stated:

"Samaira was murdered because she loved the wrong person in her family's eyes. In that sense it was an 'honour killing' to protect the perceived status of the family.[...] We hope that Samaira's death and the investigation and prosecution that followed will deter others who may wish to harm their own family members because of practices that are as tragic as they are outdated.[1]"[2]

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."[2][4]

Azhar Nazir appealed against his conviction, but the appeal was duly dismissed in February 2009.[14][5]

See also

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Honour killings in the United Kingdom:

Honour killings of people of Pakistani heritage outside of Pakistan and the UK:

See also: Honour killing in Pakistan

References

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  1. ^ a b "CPS statement: Murder of Samaira Nazir : Press Release : Crown Prosecution Service". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Butt, Riazat. "'You're not my mother any more,' shouted Samaira. Then her family killed her". the Guardian.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Stabbed to death as her family watched... for honour". The Independent. 15 July 2006. Archived from the original on 18 June 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d "Woman stabbed to death by family for loving wrong man". Telegraph. 14 July 2006.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "R v Nazir [2009] England and Wales Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) Judgement". www.casemine.com.
  6. ^ Bale, Joanna (15 July 2009). "Killed for loving the wrong man". The Times.
  7. ^ a b c Julios, Dr Christina (28 August 2015). "C 3: Five Key Case Studies". Forced Marriage and 'Honour' Killings in Britain: Private Lives, Community Crimes and Public Policy Perspectives. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4724-3251-3.
  8. ^ a b c Afzal, Nazir (April 2020). "Chapter V". The Prosecutor. Random House. ISBN 978-1-4735-7148-8.
  9. ^ Bennhold, Katrin (27 September 2013). "A Muslim Prosecutor in Britain, Fighting Forced Marriages and Honor Crimes". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "Teenager guilty of knife murder". BBC. 15 June 2006.
  11. ^ "Man convicted of murdering sister". BBC. 16 June 2006.
  12. ^ "Honour' killers sentenced to life imprisonment - Metropolitan Police Service". webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Met Police. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Two given life for honour killing". BBC. 14 July 2006. Retrieved 3 March 2018.
  14. ^ "Nazir, R v [2009] EWCA Crim 213". www.bailii.org. British & Irish Legal Information Institute (BAILII). 2009.
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