Story Posted: 10 November 2010 

Omar Hussein and Mohammed Saleh Ali have been found guilty of the so-called ‘honour’ killing of Banaz Mahmod at the Old Bailey today.

Dr Aisha Gill, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Roehampton University campaigned with women’s activists in Northern Iraq and the UK to ensure these men were extradited to the UK to face justice for this heinous murder and observed the trial at the Old Bailey.

Banaz Mahmod Babakir Agha’s family migrated to Britain from Kurdish Iraq in 1998.  Banaz was aged 21 years and was living in Mitcham, South London, when she was raped and strangled with a shoelace, in 2006. Banaz’s body was stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a garden in Handsworth, Birmingham. Her decomposing body was found in April 2006, three months after she disappeared.

In June 2007, her father and her uncle were found guilty of her murder. Banaz’s father was found to have ordered the killing, but his brother had it carried it out. Another member of the Iraqi Kurdish community, Pshtewan Hama, pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.  In March 2007, a further man, Mohammed Marif Hama, who was not a relative but belonged to the Iraqi Kurdish community, pleaded guilty to murdering Banaz.  He was recruited by Banaz’s father to assist with the murder.

Banaz’s crime was to fall in love with a Kurdish Muslim man, twenty-eight year old Rahmat Suleimani, who was not from the same clan group but, instead, was a Kurdish man from Iran. They met at a family gathering, fell in love and decided to elope. This behaviour was perceived as scandalous by the family, and her actions became known throughout the tight-knit Kurdish community in South West London.

Women’s and other organizations internationally lobbied the governments in both the UK and Iraqi Kurdistan to extradite the two remaining suspects in the murder following the guilty verdicts in June 2007. The extradition was finally ordered by the Iraqi authorities in spring 2010.  Omar Hussein and Mohammed Saleh Ali stood trial at the Old Bailey in October - November 2010. Both men were found guilty of the murder of Banaz Mahmod  and guilty of threats to kill Rahmat Sulemani. The third man Sardar Mahmood was found not guilty of all counts - conspiracy to kidnap, threats to kill Rahmat Sulemani and perverting the course of public justice .

Viewing the case at the Old Bailey, Dr Gill said: “Justice has finally been done. Credit must go to the Metropolitan Police investigating team who has progressed considerably in putting in place a more robust criminal justice-focussed national strategy on ‘honour’ based violence by implementing risk assessments, guidance on identification, evidence-gathering and prosecution, and recently rolling-out training for police officer and others since the murder of Banaz.”

“Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go. Both ‘honour’ based violence survivors and women’s NGOs working with the police continue to encounter inadequate responses and poor practice which needs to be addressed, as well as potentially judgmental and stigmatizing attitudes about BMER women who seek help from the police in such cases.