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Banaz Mahmod was an Iraqi Kurdish woman, living in London since the age of ten when her family sought asylum. /2
She was tortured, raped and murdered in 2006, at the age of 20 on the orders of her own family, in a so called #HonourKilling.../3
...because she left a violent forced marriage (which she had been forced into as a teenager with someone ten years older) and started a relationship with someone who had not been chosen for her. /4
Banaz had gone to the police for help on multiple occasions. On one occasion, she delivered a letter to the Wimbledon Police Station naming people she thought were ready to kill her. /5
On another, police attended a cafe where she had arrived, having smashed a window to escape her father who had forced her to drink alcohol. /6
The police officer who interviewed her did not believe her and wanted to charge her for criminal damage over the window. She referred to Banaz as manipulative and melodramatic. /7
When Banaz disappeared, her boyfriend Rahmat Sulemani reported her missing. The police initially didn't take him seriously, and believed the families accounts of her "often staying out". /8
He persisted, sparking an eventual investigation. Inconsistencies in the families stories were exposed. /9
The Metropolitan Police Homicide and Serious Crime Command, led by Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode, then took over the investigation. The family and the wider community did not cooperate with the investigation. /10
Eventually enough evidence was found to arrest one of the killers. While in custody he was recorded bragging about what he had done and implicating others in the murder and disposal of her body. /11
The recordings also helped the police to locate her body, which had been buried in a suitcase in a garden. /12
As part of bringing the perpetrators to justice, the CPS had to campaign to get back two of the cousins who had fled to Iraq, which does not have an extradition treaty with the UK. /13
It was thought that they would escape justice, but the CPS were ultimately successful in getting them returned to the UK. /14
Her father, uncle and three cousins were tried and convicted of her murder. /15
Her boyfriend, who had gone up against his community to testify, had to go into witness protection. He never recovered from her murder and committed suicide in 2016. /16
Her sister, Bekhal Mahmoud, who had escaped her family and the violence against her before Banaz was murdered, also testified, and been living under witness protection since the trials. /17
Banaz Mahmoud's story has been told in an ITV crime drama called #Honour. /18 https://www.itv.com/hub/honour/2a7534a0002
Now I would like to add some personal thoughts, about subjects which are difficult to talk about. /19
Insular communities, especially / #conservative #religious ones, often have a culture of silence around crimes of "their own". This means that these communities allow certain types of crime to thrive, both individual crimes ( #omerta culture) and co-ordinated group crimes. /20
Since it is sensitive for me to be writing about another community, let me say that the same culture of silence exists in mine, with a specific religious taboo of #mesirah (grassing to the secular authorities.) /21
#MalkaLeifer, for example, a woman accused of child sexual abuse, has been fighting extradition to Australia for many years. #bringleiferback /22
The day the allegations came to light, in 2008, the school board of where she had been the principal, Adass Israel in Melbourne, arranged, paid for and booked seats on a plane to Israel. /23
Despite the nature of these charges being public, she lived a normal life in Emmanuel, Israel, until she was secretly filmed, putting an end to her pretending to be unable to appear in court. Only this year, September 2020, the extradition order has finally been given. /24
Added to this culture of silence, unethical community members know that accusations of discrimination are a magic bullet. /25
Fear of being seen as #racist should not stop the police doing their job, but they are human and it could affect the way crimes in our communities are handled. /26
I do *not* believe that this is the only factor, because only a tiny number of sexual crimes in the UK eventually come to prosecution, so it's clear there's a general problem. But it is *a* factor in this and other crimes. /27
The loudest voices in minority communities, which seek to protect the image of the community, are heard. The voices of the victims within these minorities are being failed, first by their communities, and then by the state. /28
Of course, there *can* be discrimination in any institution. And much of this can be found in the singling out of specific groups when the same things are taking place elsewhere. /29
But often people outside of these communities jump to a knee jerk "this is discrimination" whenever crimes in these communities are investigated. /30
Please support activists against abuse inside minority communities. They should not have to fight their own communities and well meaning outsiders to get justice. /31
Please also read this important thread by @YaqutAzraq
https://twitter.com/YaqutAzraq/status/1310916466477346816
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https://twitter.com/YaqutAzraq/status/1310916466477346816
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