On my honour

This January at Oxford Crown Court, Chomir Ali and his two sons, Mohammed Mujibar Rahman (18) and Mamnoor Rahman (15) were each sentenced to more than 50 years' imprisonment following their convictions for murder in what is described as an honour crime killing. The victim of the crime, Arash Ghorbani-Zani, had been having a relationship with Chomir Ali's daughter, Manna Bagum. Ali disapproved of the relationship because of his perception of Arash's family background (Arash was an Iranian Muslim) and because he had intended that his daughter should enter into an arranged marriage with a Bangladeshi man. The prosecution case was that Ali had recruited his two sons to kill Arash in order to restore what Ali saw as his family's 'honour'.

Crime increase

While this case is perhaps particularly shocking because it involved a murder undertaken by two teenagers upon their father's instructions, it is just one of a number of similar horrific crimes in recent years. While the Muslim Council of Britain has pointed out that such killings are not symptomatic of a widespread problem in the Muslim community, the police fear that so-called 'honour' crimes are on the increase and that many either go unreported or are disguised as suicide, fire, or accident. At a recent CPS Honour Crimes Conference, Metropolitan Police Commander Andy Baker, head of homicide investigation, told the delegates that the police believe that an honour killing is being committed every two months in London. He also stated that the suicide rate among Asian women aged between 15 and 20 was three times the national average. As a result, the police and the CPS are reviewing the disappearances and deaths of 122 young Asian women over the past ten years in order to establish whether they were killed for bringing shame on their families.

While statistics indicate that those most likely to be affected are women from South Asian communities, it should be understood that vulnerability to honour-based violence is by no means exclusive to these communities. Incidents have been reported in families from Middle Eastern, West African, Turkish, Bosnian, Kosovan and Roma backgrounds. Investigating and prosecuting these types of cases can be problematic because those affected are often afraid to speak out, either in an attempt to save their family honour or because they do not want their personal tragedy to reflect badly on their community.

Investigations

While there is a definite need to investigate and prosecute honours crimes robustly, Dr Aisha Gill, chair of the Newham Asian Women's Project, who has conducted research over the last ten years on the impact of domestic violence upon South Asian women living in the UK says: 'Prosecuting authorities must guard against two dangers: on the one hand the danger of universalising what are merely Western feminist ideas of morality, and, on the other, of tolerating human rights violations for the sake of multicultural accommodation.' While she recommends that those involved in the criminal justice system should receive awareness training in order to ensure that cases are prosecuted and investigated sensitively, she also points out 'that all reports of violence must be taken seriously and acted upon even when family or community leaders attempt to justify the crimes'. This is clearly a difficult balancing exercise for those involved in investigating, prosecuting, defending, and adjudicating of these cases.

In cases where victims and family members are reluctant or refuse to give evidence against other family members, the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 in relation to the admission of hearsay evidence and evidence of bad character should be considered. Evidence was adduced under these provisions in the Ali case where it was important because there was very little direct evidence against Chomir Ali and Mujibar Rahman. Therefore evidence from friends of Arash and Manna about the families attitude to their relationship '“ Manna's enforced confinement in the family home, and details of an incident where Chomir Ali had threatened Arash with a knife, proved important in respect of the inferences in relation to motive that the prosecution was inviting the jury to draw against both of the defendants.

Protecting the victims

While the use of the provisions of the 2003 Act were considered as of pivotal importance in the successful prosecution in the Ali case, Chief Crown Prosecutor for London, Dru Sharpling, has pointed out that the criminal law must be designed to protect the victims of honours-based violence. She told the CPS Honours Crimes Conference that 'if they [the victims] are not protected; if they are kept away from the agencies that can help; if the issue is submerged in our society, then that seems to me to give the green light to the perpetrators'. Even if legal sanctions are in place, the problem of non-reporting of honour crimes and the refusal or reluctance of victims and other family members to give evidence still remains. To this end, Ram Gidoomal, chair of the South Asian Development Partnership has suggested that new measures should be introduced in order to raise public awareness of honour-based crime, including a code of conduct signed by Asian community leaders, with an agreed and well-publicised form of whistle-blowing to protect women under threat in their own communities; telephone helplines targeted towards Asians at risk; and the setting up of a young Asians at risk register (YAAR '“ the Hindi word for friend) to help the police, social services and other organisations to maintain an accurate national database. Until such measures come to fruition, it would appear that the message to all those involved in prosecuting or defending such cases should be to approach the situation with cultural awareness and sensitivity, but with an assurance to the victims that they will be afforded the full protection of the criminal law.

Lynne Townley is a barrister and Senior Crown Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service