No Safe Place Murdered by our Father

by Mahmood, Bekhal; Siddiqui, Hannana

• ISBN13: 9781913543051
• ISBN10: 1913543056
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2022-09-15
• Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers

Summary

Bekhal Mahmod was one of six siblings from a Sunni Muslim family in Iraqi Kurdistan who sought a new life as asylum seekers and arrived in London in 1998. When Bekhal's father tried to force her into an arranged marriage at 15, she ran away. This caused her father to ‘lose respect’ within the Kurdish community and Bekhal became the target of an honour killing and her younger sisters Banaz and Payzee were quickly married off to restore the family's reputation. When Banaz left her husband, claiming he'd beaten and raped her, Mahmod decided this 'shame' to the family meant Banaz must die. Within weeks, she had vanished. Her body was later found in a suitcase, buried in a garden in Birmingham. Banaz had been raped and killed in a sickening plot orchestrated by her father and uncle. Bekhal Mahmod became the first female in British legal history to give evidence against family members in an honour killing trial, and won justice for Banaz. Bekhal has a new identity under a witness protection program. She lives in terror of her father’s release from jail. This is her story.

Author Biography

Bekhal Mahmod is admired for giving prosecution evidence against her father, uncle and male cousins for the honour killing of her sister, Banaz Mahmod. Her relatives were all convicted of murder or related crimes. She is the first female sibling in the UK to do so. Bekhal also faced threats and attempts to kill her after she left home as a teenager due to abuse and pressures to have a child marriage. She is now on witness protection scheme, but still in fear of her life. Dr Hannana Siddiqui is an award-winning author, expert and activist on violence against black and ethnic minority women and girls. She has been a leading member of the renowned black feminist organisation Southall Black Sisters, for thirty-six years. Hannana has supported over 10,000 women and girls facing domestic and sexual abuse, forced marriage, honour violence, immigration, poverty and destitution, and suicide and self-harm problems.