E-Paper
No headway in probe into suspected honour killing
An inquiry into death of a UK Muslim girl has run into a wall due to reluctance of potential witnesses.
An inquiry into the much-publicised death of a teenaged British Muslim girl, suspected to be an honour killing, has run into a wall due to the reluctance of potential witnesses.
The body of Shafilea Ahmed, 17, was found earlier this year beside a river in Cumbria. Police say she had been murdered, although they have been unable to determine the precise cause of death.
Shafilea had previously swallowed bleach in an apparent cry for help after being introduced to a potential suitor while on holiday with her family in a Pakistani village.
She vanished from her home in Warrington in September 2003, a day before she was due to have hospital treatment on her damaged throat. She was last seen on Sep 11, 2003.
The teenager's badly decomposed body was discovered by chance on February 4 by workmen close to the flooded river Kent at Sedgewick, near Kendal, partially concealed in undergrowth. A pathologist was unable to establish the cause of death.
Her parents, Iftikhar Ahmed, 44, a taxi driver, and his 41-year-old wife, Farzana, were arrested and questioned on suspicion of kidnapping their daughter amid press speculation that she was the victim of an "honour killing".
They were later released without charge and continue to maintain their innocence of any involvement in her death. The Cheshire police have interviewed more than 2,000 people as part of their inquiry. They have identified 200 members of Shafilea's extended family, most of whom live in Bradford, Britain, or Pakistan, and have contacted many of them.
"The problem with honour killing is it can be used in mitigation to explain to a jury that it was someone protecting their honour and it was manslaughter. What we are investigating here is murder," said Detective Chief Inspector Geraint Jones, who is leading the inquiry.
Eight members of Shafilea's extended family had been released on bail until February on suspicion of perverting the course of justice.
Jones said: "The parents have never been eliminated as suspects. All through this inquiry it has not been easy. We have found people, rather than people telephoning us and offering information. It can be quite frustrating. I don't know why people do not phone us. It can be disappointing if someone knows something which could be useful."
Police have produced new posters, written in English and Urdu, appealing for information about the murder and which have been extensively circulated in Warrington, Kendal and Bradford.
Jones said Shafilea had been bright, friendly and witty. "People describe her as having a sharp sense of humour. She wanted to be a lawyer. She was a well-liked, decent, law-abiding girl."
He said the case was not about Islam, but about the conflict between Western culture and the different culture in the rural area of Pakistan.
