The girl was murdered by her Pakistani parents for her Western ways. And it was her little sister who bravely told jurors how her mother and father suffocated the 17-year-old with a plastic bag _ gripping testimony that led to her parents' murder conviction on Friday.

Justice Roderick Evans sentenced Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, to life in prison for killing their daughter, Shafilea, in 2003. The couple _ first cousins from the Pakistani village of Uttam _ were ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison.

``She was being squeezed between two cultures _ the culture and way of life that she saw around her and wanted to embrace, and the culture and way of life you wanted to impose on her,'' Evans said during the sentencing at the Chester Crown Court in northwest England.

In Britain, more than 25 women have been killed in so-called ``honor killings'' in the past decade. Families have sometimes lashed out at their children on the belief that they have brought their household shame by becoming too westernized or by refusing a marriage.

Shafilea was only 10 when she began to rebel against her parents' strict rules, according to prosecutor Andrew Edis.

The young girl would hide make-up, false nails and western clothes at school, changing into conservative clothes before her parents picked her up.

But it was the last year of her life that proved to be the most traumatic.

During the trial that began in May, jurors heard from Shafilea's younger sister, Alesha, who said she witnessed the murder when she was 12.

After an argument about Shafilea's dress, her parents pushed her down on a couch, stuffed a thin white plastic bag into her mouth and held their hands over her mouth and nose until she died, Alesha testified.

As she was struggling, her mother said, ``just finish it here,'' according to Alesha's testimony.

Although Shafilea's other siblings contradicted the testimony, the last-minute emergence of a diary convinced jurors.

The diary belonged to a friend of one of Shafilea's other sisters, Mev. In it, the friend relays conversations she had with the sister about the night Shafilea died _ details that supported Alesha's testimony.

``The strong message goes out and should be very clear: If you engage in honor killings _ if you engage in forced marriages _ you will be caught and brought to justice,'' said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Manchester-based Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim organization.

When Shafilea became a teenager, she became interested in boys _ something that spurred punishment from her parents.

School officials alerted social services in October 2002 after Shafilea came to school with injuries to her face. That same month, Shafilea told a social worker that she was to be married in Pakistan in February 2003.

In January 2003, she ran away, telling friends her parents would not leave her alone. She eventually returned.

In February 2003, she ran away again and pleaded with British authorities to allow her to move out of her parents' house because, she said, they were abusive and trying to force her into an arranged marriage.

Some of Shafilea's own words also proved compelling to jurors.

In the application form to move out, she said she had suffered from regular domestic violence from the age of 15.

``One parent would hold me whilst the other hit me,'' she said.

Her father snatched her off the streets, however, in the same month as the application. He bundled her into a car and took her to Pakistan against her will, Alesha said.

In protest, Shafilea drank bleach and was brought back to Britain in May 2003. She spent eight weeks in the hospital trying to recover from damage done to her throat.

Even in her weakened and desperate state, Shafilea's parents were relentless.

One night, her parents complained she was wearing a T-shirt and wasn't properly covered up, according to Alesha. The younger sister said Shafilea struggled and struggled as her parents held her down.

Alesha described that after the attack, her siblings ran upstairs and she watched as her father carried Shafilea's body to the car wrapped in a blanket. She was reported missing shortly after, with her parents making a teary-eyed media appeal for information leading to their daughter.

But police were suspicious _ so much so that they bugged the house.

Shafilea's decomposed remains were eventually discovered in the River Kent in Cumbria in February 2004, but it wasn't until 2010 that Alesha provided the key testimony.

Last year, the British government's Forced Marriage Unit investigated more than 1,400 cases of forced marriages, most of which occur in Muslim communities. Britain is home to more than 1.8 million Muslims, most from Pakistani roots. 

 



<한글 기사>

"결혼해!"  딸  강제로 수면제 먹여 납치한 부모

서양 문화에 물들었다는 이유로 10대 딸을 살해 한 혐의로 기소된 파키스탄 출신 부부가 영국 법정에서 3일(현지시간) 유죄 판결을 받았다.

잉글랜드 북서부 체셔주(州)에 있는 체스터 크라운 법원은 이날 파키스탄 태생인 이프티카르 아흐메드(52)와 부인 파르자나(49) 부부에 대해 지난 2003년 당시 17 세이던 딸 샤필리아를 질식사하게 한 혐의가 인정된다며 유죄 판결을 내렸다.

AP에 따르면 로데릭 에번스 판사는 "샤필리아는 두 개의 문화 사이에서 질식당했다"면서 아흐메드 부부에게 종신형을 선고하고 최소한 25년을 복역하도록 했다.

원래 사촌 간이었던 아흐메드 부부가 유죄 판결을 받게 된 데는 샤필리아의 여동생 알레샤의 법정 증언이 결정적이었다.

알레샤는 배심원들에게 어머니인 파르자나가 다른 자녀들이 보는 앞에서 언니를 놓고 남편에게 "그냥 여기서 끝장내요"라고 말했다고 진술 했다.

배심원의 유죄 평결이 내려지자 아흐메드는 무표정하게 서있었고, 부인 파르자 나는 화장지로 눈물을 훔쳤으며, 남은 자녀 3명도 눈물을 흘렸다고 AFP는 전했다. 

샤필리아는 2003년 9월 체스터 인근 워링턴에 있는 집에서 실종된 지 5개월 만에 잉글랜드 북부 컴브리아주(州)의 강둑에서 숨진 채 발견됐다.

검찰에 따르면 아흐메드 부부는 딸이 얼굴과 손톱에 화장을 하고 티셔츠를 입고 다니며 남자들과 대화를 하는 등 서양 문화에 물들어 가족의 명예를 더럽혔다는 이유로 명예살인을 저질렀다.

재판 과정에서 샤필리아는 부모의 상습적인 폭행과 강제결혼 시도를 견디다 못해 2003년 1월과 2월 가출해 지방당국에 긴급보호를 요청했던 것으로 밝혀졌다.

포기를 모르던 아흐메드는 딸을 거리에서 강제로 납치해 마취제를 먹인 뒤 파키스탄으로 보내 결혼을 시키려 했고, 샤필리아는 격렬하게 저항한 끝에 같은 해 5월 영국으로 돌아왔지만 끝내 부모의 손에 목숨을 잃었다.

샤필리아는 지방 사회보호 당국에 보낸 편지에서 15살부터 일상적인 가정폭력을 당해왔다며 "부모 한 명이 나를 때리는 동안 다른 부모가 나를 붙잡고 있곤 했다"며 "나는 대학에 갈 수도, 아르바이트를 할 수도 없었다"고 도움을 호소했다.

샤필리아는 또 자신이 긴급보호를 요청하는 주된 이유는 "부모들이 나를 파키스탄으로 보내 누군가와 결혼시키려 하기 때문"이라고 썼다.

택시 운전사인 아흐메드는 법정에서 살인 혐의를 부인했다. 그의 부인 파르자나 역시 살인 혐의를 부인하면서 남편이 딸을 때리는 것을 목격했고, 남편이 죽인 것으로 생각한다고 진술했다.

영국에서는 최근 10년 동안 약 25명의 여성이 가족과 친인척들에 의한  `명예살인'으로 목숨을 잃었다.



<이 시간 인기 기사>

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