:00:19. > :00:23.Thousands of crimes of violence in Britain are going unpunished, even
:00:23. > :00:28.murder. I need to shut her up. They did.
:00:28. > :00:35.That's what they did. They are committed by those closest
:00:35. > :00:41.to the victims, their families. Some blame their own communities
:00:41. > :00:47.for failing to confront this abuse. Not to demonstrate real leadership
:00:47. > :00:51.on this is extremely irresponsible. It is morally wrong and it is
:00:51. > :00:58.morally blind. No-one knows how many women in Britain are being
:00:58. > :01:08.silenced by so-called honour. There is no place for multicultural
:01:08. > :01:20.
:01:20. > :01:26.sensitivity, this is something that A moth err remembers a teenage
:01:26. > :01:34.daughter. Killed by her young boyfriend for shaming his family.
:01:34. > :01:40.It happened in riot ram. It is still as raw now as what it
:01:40. > :01:46.was then. I try not to think about the attack.
:01:46. > :01:52.I do know what was done to her, I try to blank that out.
:01:52. > :01:56.Laura's killer was just 17. An Asian born and raised here, but
:01:56. > :02:01.when she challenged his traditional culture, Laura had to be silenced.
:02:01. > :02:11.He was found guilty of her murder last year.
:02:11. > :02:16.
:02:16. > :02:20.He has never shown remorse, never. Never.
:02:20. > :02:24.In multi-cultural Britain today, many young people from immigrant
:02:24. > :02:27.communities are well integrated. Yet in many households, old
:02:28. > :02:33.traditions are still a powerful force. Some cause harm.
:02:33. > :02:37.Up and down the country, behind closed doors, crimes are being
:02:38. > :02:43.committed. Kidnap and false imprisonment. Women and girls being
:02:43. > :02:46.beaten, raped and even murdered. All in the name of so-called honour.
:02:46. > :02:56.The authorities admit that they just don't know the real scale of
:02:56. > :03:02.
:03:02. > :03:06.this abuse. Can I help? I've just seen a lady
:03:06. > :03:10.who has been referred to our service who is receiving direct
:03:11. > :03:14.threats from her family to kill her... There is a national helpline
:03:14. > :03:24.for those being threatened and suffering domestic violence because
:03:24. > :03:24.
:03:24. > :03:30.of honour. The help line was set up by a Sikh,
:03:30. > :03:34.brought up in Derby. Jasvinder Sanghera.
:03:34. > :03:38.I was never allowed to walk the streets on my own. We were always
:03:38. > :03:43.chaperoned wherever we went as there was fear of dishonour in the
:03:43. > :03:48.family. Jasvinder Sanghera was 14 when she
:03:48. > :03:51.was imprisoned in her family for refusing to marry a man she had
:03:51. > :03:55.never met. She ran away from home and the code of honour that rules
:03:55. > :04:00.here. What we have are families living
:04:00. > :04:05.next to each other, they are the eyes and the ears of the community.
:04:05. > :04:08.They all be involved in the honour system. In south Asian and Middle
:04:08. > :04:14.Eastern communities, controlling the behaviour of women is seen as
:04:14. > :04:18.the key to the family's honour. I was conditioned to learn that
:04:18. > :04:24.from a very young age. It is dishonourable to make eye contact
:04:24. > :04:29.with men. Sit with men. The shift in change as you get older, you are
:04:29. > :04:36.not allowed to have boyfriends, if you are seen talking to the
:04:36. > :04:39.opposite sex, cutting your hair, you are wearing make-up, these are
:04:39. > :04:44.taught as dishonourable actions if you engage in this behaviour you
:04:44. > :04:51.will put yourself at risk. They can be triggers for significant harm, a
:04:51. > :04:55.forced marriage, or even murder. Calls to the Honour helpline have
:04:55. > :05:00.doubled in the four years since it was set up.
:05:00. > :05:04.The 500 call as month that we are currently receiving, from my
:05:04. > :05:14.perspective, is a drop in the ocean. There are hundreds and thousands
:05:14. > :05:18.out there that we are yet to reach. One of the volunteers here, Neina,
:05:18. > :05:22.was disowned by her own family. She had run away from her husband who
:05:22. > :05:29.beat her. She is still afraid of showing her face.
:05:29. > :05:35.Every time he hit me, he had an excuse, the first thing he said is
:05:35. > :05:39.that I swore at him or raised my voice. Then my parents would say I
:05:39. > :05:44.deserved it. For them to be disowned in society, it is like an
:05:44. > :05:48.honour thing for them it is easy to sacrifice a daughter or a son or
:05:48. > :05:53.your extended family that you are trying to please all of the time.
:05:53. > :05:57.Did you fear you may be killed? lot of times. Even now, my dad said
:05:57. > :06:06.if you leave him, I will be made to do something that I do not want to
:06:06. > :06:11.No-one knows how many honour crimes there are in this country.
:06:11. > :06:16.The latest survey of Police Force statistics, found over 2,800 a year.
:06:16. > :06:26.That is nearly eight a day. That does not even include a quarter of
:06:26. > :06:38.
:06:38. > :06:42.This is one of the handful of refuges in this country just for
:06:42. > :06:48.Asian women and their children. Everyone here has run away from a
:06:48. > :06:54.husband's home, where his extended family and "honour" have made their
:06:55. > :06:59.live as misery. So many times my husband beat me up.
:06:59. > :07:04.He never listened to me, always to my mother-in-law.
:07:04. > :07:08.So he was physically violent to you? Yes, to me and my mother-in-
:07:08. > :07:13.law and sister-in-law. They disrespected me. They treated me
:07:13. > :07:18.like I have no honour, no respect, that I am like a slave.
:07:18. > :07:25.Many of these women come from Pakistan as young brides. Their
:07:25. > :07:29.passports are taken away, they become prisoners, almost, not even
:07:29. > :07:33.allowed to learn English. Like Qawal.
:07:33. > :07:37.My mother-in-law hit me so hard in the face, blood poured from my ear.
:07:37. > :07:41.I did not know anything about the outside world. I could not speak
:07:41. > :07:45.the language. I did not know anything about money. I was a
:07:45. > :07:49.prisoner in the house. Once I was locked in the bedroom for 13 days.
:07:49. > :07:57.I thought that the only way to get out would be through the upstairs
:07:57. > :08:01.wind yes or by killing myself. I just wanted to end it all.
:08:01. > :08:08.Nationally, the police response to honour crime has been patchy.
:08:08. > :08:11.Serious mistakes have been made. A murder detective at the
:08:11. > :08:20.Metropolitan Police has had to learn what honour killing in
:08:20. > :08:24.Britain is all about. She was stabbed multiple times. 18
:08:24. > :08:28.times. In all of these cases they involve extreme violence as the
:08:28. > :08:33.murders are committed to send a message to the wider community.
:08:33. > :08:37.Often there are multiple perpetrators, there is a degree of
:08:37. > :08:43.high organisation, precipitated by a family meeting, often.
:08:43. > :08:47.It was a family meeting that sealed the fate of Banaz Mahmod. She was a
:08:47. > :08:52.19-year-old Iraqi Kurd, who had been allowed to leave her violent
:08:52. > :08:55.husband. But when Banaz Mahmod started
:08:55. > :08:59.secretly seeing someone else and was spotted kissing him outside of
:08:59. > :09:03.this tube station in south London it was too much for the family's
:09:03. > :09:10.honour. They called a meeting of close relatives at their home and
:09:10. > :09:14.they decided to kill her. This is a letter written by Banaz
:09:14. > :09:18.Mahmod and handed into the police station on the 12th of December. In
:09:18. > :09:24.the letter she names some of the people whom she has heard are going
:09:24. > :09:28.to be responsible for her murder. She knew who was threatening her?
:09:28. > :09:32.She had been told who the people were who would be responsible for
:09:32. > :09:41.killing her. The people named in there are the people convicted for
:09:41. > :09:44.her murder. This video of Banaz was taken by
:09:44. > :09:52.her boyfriend in hospital, after her father first attempted to kill
:09:52. > :09:56.her. But Banaz would not press charges.
:09:56. > :10:00.The police did not recognise the danger she was in. She went home.
:10:00. > :10:04.What happened on that night, the police were called, but the officer
:10:04. > :10:08.that turned up did not understand what it was she was being told. She
:10:08. > :10:13.had no prior knowledge of honour- based violence and simply did not
:10:13. > :10:19.believe, in all fairness, what it was that she was being told. The
:10:19. > :10:26.police clearly did fail Banaz on that occasion.
:10:26. > :10:31.A month later, Banaz went missing. A murder hunt was launched. Her
:10:31. > :10:34.uncle and father had been detained, but there was no hard evidence
:10:34. > :10:41.against them. All our efforts focused on trying
:10:41. > :10:46.to find Banaz's body. We literally lived, breathed and slept trying to
:10:46. > :10:51.find her. We have the address, looking now...
:10:51. > :10:55.Banaz's body was found in the garden of this house, over 100
:10:55. > :10:59.miles from the home where she had been murdered. The relatives had
:10:59. > :11:05.been secretly recorded, boosting of where they had hidden her.
:11:06. > :11:14.After digging for a day, we finally discovered her body buried six feet
:11:14. > :11:19.deep under the footings of the house. They had gone to great
:11:19. > :11:25.lengths to ensure we did not find her. It took five years. Even trips
:11:25. > :11:32.to Iraq to extradite and bring all Banaz's relatives, responsible for
:11:32. > :11:36.her murder to justice. Banaz Mahmod's case was a watershed
:11:36. > :11:41.it made the police and prosecutors realise how serious honour crime
:11:41. > :11:46.had become in this country. We don't know the true figure of
:11:46. > :11:50.honour killings. It is anything between ten and 12 a year in this
:11:50. > :11:54.country. I don't know how many other unmarked grave there is are
:11:54. > :11:57.in this green and pleasant land. I don't know, that suggests to me
:11:57. > :12:00.that we are underestimating the issue.
:12:01. > :12:03.There are thousands of women in Britain today, who live in silence,
:12:03. > :12:08.in fear of their lives because of honour.
:12:08. > :12:12.We can't show you the face of this young Kurdish woman.
:12:12. > :12:17.Leila came here to join her husband, who turned out to be violent and
:12:17. > :12:20.unstable. TRANSLATION: He put his hands
:12:20. > :12:25.around my throat. He said he would kill me, and cut
:12:25. > :12:29.me into pieces and put me in a rubbish bag. No-one would even know
:12:29. > :12:33.I was in this country, he had said. Even the police would not know
:12:33. > :12:38.about me. There was no reason for him to
:12:38. > :12:48.threaten and insult me. He said to me, "When I see you it
:12:48. > :12:51.makes me crazy. When I beat you up it makes me feel better." Leila
:12:51. > :12:55.ended up in hospital with serious injuries.
:12:55. > :13:01.But she was pregnant and went back to her husband.
:13:01. > :13:06.Things got worse and she ran away. But leaving her husband has not
:13:06. > :13:12.ended the threat to her life. TRANSLATION: The dishonourable
:13:12. > :13:20.thing I did was to go to a refuge. In Kurdistan a refuge is seen as a
:13:20. > :13:27.very bad place. Some women cannot escape abusive
:13:27. > :13:30.marriages. The only way out is to silence themselves.
:13:30. > :13:36.Suicide rates among south Asian women in Britain are three times
:13:36. > :13:40.the national average. It's stunning statistics, when you
:13:40. > :13:43.realise, that in fact there is only one other group that has that
:13:43. > :13:48.similar figure, which are soldiers that have returned from the war
:13:48. > :13:52.zone of Iraq and Afghanistan. They themselves, these women, they are
:13:52. > :14:00.living in a war zone. They can think of no other way of getting
:14:00. > :14:08.out of the situation without "dishonouring their family "than
:14:08. > :14:12.killing themselves. When Nashin came to live here from
:14:12. > :14:19.Pakistan, she thought that she would be happy, but she was soon
:14:19. > :14:24.calling home, saying that the was ill-treating her. He told her not
:14:24. > :14:28.to leave for the sake of the honour. TRANSLATION: I said that the best
:14:28. > :14:33.daughters are the ones that stay in their particular tal homes until
:14:33. > :14:36.the day that they diefplt No father wants their daughter to
:14:36. > :14:44.end her marriage in divorce, that would not be right.
:14:44. > :14:48.But things got worse. She left home flee times and went
:14:48. > :14:53.to other relatives in Sheffield, but was persuaded to go back to her
:14:53. > :14:57.husband. One day she rang her parents in Pakistan with a chilling
:14:57. > :15:03.warning. She said, "Did you sell me to them
:15:03. > :15:08.for money. When you see me next, I will not be alive, I will be dead."
:15:08. > :15:18.An hour later, the new bride was found on fire in her garden. The
:15:18. > :15:20.
:15:20. > :15:27.burns are too horrific to show Mr azaan came to England. Every day
:15:27. > :15:32.he visits his daughter in a nursing home. She suffered a massive brain
:15:32. > :15:39.haemorrhage and has never been able to reveal what really happened.
:15:39. > :15:45.TRANSLATION: She is lifeless, like a living corpse. She can't talk,
:15:45. > :15:55.can't walk, can't eat, she is the living dead. The most painful thing
:15:55. > :15:59.
:15:59. > :16:04.for us is that our daughter, who The circumstances of Vogue -- fake,
:16:04. > :16:10.you don't know for sure whether she tried to commit suicide or whether
:16:10. > :16:13.somebody tried to kill her. Sheffield police have told Mr Aslam
:16:13. > :16:17.and the women's group helping him there's no evidence anyone else was
:16:17. > :16:21.involved so they can't take the case any further. The police
:16:21. > :16:31.believe his daughter set herself alight. It was a cry for life --
:16:31. > :16:37.
:16:37. > :16:41.help, but her father wants an It is unclear what happened to her,
:16:41. > :16:45.but campaigners say there are cases where women unable to escape have
:16:45. > :16:54.resorted to suicide. They want to see those responsible held to
:16:54. > :16:58.account. People who drive others to harm themselves in the context of
:16:58. > :17:04.violence and abuse and bullying and harassment and intimidating and
:17:04. > :17:14.threatening behaviour are just as much culpable as if they were
:17:14. > :17:17.
:17:17. > :17:22.There's little sign that the desire to preserve the honour of the
:17:22. > :17:27.family at all costs is changing. Even with the younger generation.
:17:27. > :17:35.Here in Rotherham, one love-story across the racial divide has had a
:17:35. > :17:42.tragic ending. Laura Wilson was only 17, a strong-willed girl whose
:17:42. > :17:48.behaviour would trigger her murder. Feisty. She had a mouth on her, if
:17:48. > :17:53.she had something to say, she would say it. Laura lived in Ferham Park,
:17:53. > :17:59.a mixed white and Asian community. She was only a teenager, but she
:17:59. > :18:09.had already had a baby by an Asian man, Ishaq Hussain, known as that.
:18:09. > :18:13.
:18:13. > :18:22.He had refused to recognise the But the boy Laura laughed was his
:18:22. > :18:27.friend, 17-year-old Ashtiaq Ashgar. -- love it. Ashtiaq was her first
:18:27. > :18:32.love, she adored him. She was all is on the phone to him and he was
:18:32. > :18:37.on the phone to her. All ready stung by Zak's rejection of their
:18:37. > :18:44.child, when Ashtiaq jilted Laura, she wasn't going to just accept it.
:18:45. > :18:53.She decided to go and see Ashtiaq's family Anzac's family and tell them
:18:53. > :18:57.she had had relationships with both of them. This is the area a Ferham
:18:57. > :19:02.with the terraced houses. Ashtiaq's house is one of those on the main
:19:02. > :19:08.road. Detective Mick Mason took me to the area where Laura confronted
:19:08. > :19:17.the men's families. Their reactions were quite vocal. An argument broke
:19:17. > :19:24.out. One of the mothers tried to hit Lawro with a shoe. -- Laura.
:19:24. > :19:28.She was told she would not welcome. There were a number of meetings
:19:28. > :19:38.between the two men and we believe it was decided then that Laura had
:19:38. > :19:45.Three days after confronting the families, Laura met Ashtiaq down by
:19:45. > :19:51.the canal. He had sent her a text, he wanted to see her alone. This is
:19:51. > :19:56.the way Lawro came, from by the railings down there. -- Laura.
:19:56. > :20:01.was dark by the time Laura met Ashtiaq down by the canal. Then she
:20:01. > :20:05.got a phone call from her mother. asked her where she was. I said it
:20:05. > :20:15.was about time she got home. She said, I will not be long, and that
:20:15. > :20:18.
:20:18. > :20:23.was it. That was the last you Within minutes, the police believe,
:20:23. > :20:33.Ashtiaq began a frenzy knife attack on Laura before throwing her into
:20:33. > :20:33.
:20:33. > :20:38.I have seen many murders, but this was the worst I've seen. The
:20:38. > :20:42.pathologist in court said that Laura had a number of stab wounds
:20:42. > :20:46.to the crown of her head. He believed that Laura had been
:20:46. > :20:50.subject to stabbing while she was trying to get out of the canal and
:20:50. > :20:55.the knife had been used to stop her getting out of the canal. When
:20:55. > :21:02.Laura's body was found, Ashtiaq and Zak were arrested and tried for her
:21:02. > :21:05.murder. I think it was about honour and shame. Laura, in their eyes,
:21:05. > :21:10.had brought shame on the family by coming round and their sons had
:21:10. > :21:16.brought shame on the family as well. Ashtiaq was found guilty of killing
:21:16. > :21:22.Laura and sentenced to 17 years in prison. Zak was acquitted. I do
:21:22. > :21:27.honestly think it was an honour killing. Shame on the family. She
:21:28. > :21:35.needed to be shut up. They needed to shut her up. And they did. That
:21:35. > :21:39.is what they did. What happened to Laura Wilson shows that honour can
:21:39. > :21:45.be just as important to young people born and brought up here as
:21:45. > :21:48.it is to their parents. I thought this was a generational thing,
:21:48. > :21:53.something that would die out with my generation. But I've come across
:21:53. > :21:59.very young people who think the same way. One example, a young man,
:21:59. > :22:03.20 years old, said to me, don't you understand? Man is a piece of gold,
:22:03. > :22:07.woman is a piece of silk. If you drop a piece of gold in March, you
:22:07. > :22:12.can wipe it clean. If you drop a piece of silk in March, it is
:22:12. > :22:16.stained forever. That is his view of women. That is why he thinks
:22:16. > :22:21.women should be controlled. Their behaviour can't be allowed to go
:22:21. > :22:25.unchecked. That is the 20-year-old. To find out more about the
:22:25. > :22:31.attitudes of the younger generation, we carried out an opinion poll of
:22:31. > :22:36.young Asians. Men and women. Over two-thirds agreed families should
:22:36. > :22:41.live according to the concept of honour. Interestingly, the younger
:22:41. > :22:46.age group, between 16 and 24, felt more strongly about it. At first,
:22:46. > :22:51.only 6% of the total said it was right to physically punish a woman
:22:51. > :22:56.who brings dishonour on her family. But that went up to 18%, nearly one
:22:56. > :22:59.in five, when presented with a specific list. Disobeying the
:22:59. > :23:04.father, marrying someone unacceptable or wanting to end a
:23:04. > :23:14.marriage. Young Asian women are just as likely as men to say they
:23:14. > :23:16.
:23:16. > :23:21.The key to changing attitudes to honour lies in education. Boys need
:23:21. > :23:27.to be taught what is unacceptable, girls to know they don't have to
:23:27. > :23:31.suffer in silence. The campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera approach 100
:23:31. > :23:35.schools before finding this one prepared to let her in to talk
:23:35. > :23:39.about this sensitive issue. don't schools want me to talk to
:23:39. > :23:44.them? It is the same old thing. We don't want to offend communities,
:23:44. > :23:48.we don't want to tread on cultural toes. These excuses because they
:23:48. > :23:54.have been trained to be culturally sensitive. A third of children here
:23:54. > :24:00.are from ethnic minorities. Jaswinder tells them her own story.
:24:00. > :24:04.I came home from school, I was 14. My mother sat me down and she
:24:04. > :24:10.presented his photograph to me. She said, this is the man you are going
:24:10. > :24:13.to marry. I said, but mum, I want to finish school. She said, no,
:24:13. > :24:18.where you're going, you don't need an education, you are going to get
:24:18. > :24:23.married. This already has some experience of the forced marriage
:24:23. > :24:27.and honour abuse she is describing. We have seen issues were children
:24:27. > :24:32.have had to be supported into refuges, escaping difficult
:24:32. > :24:35.situations at home. Children have not returned from holidays abroad.
:24:36. > :24:39.Situations where we have supported children on their route to
:24:39. > :24:47.education because it has been an alternative to pressure to be
:24:47. > :24:53.married. The majority of experts argue that the root cause of honour
:24:53. > :24:57.crime lies enforced marriage. Forced marriage is where your
:24:57. > :25:03.family crossed the line, you say no, and they are forcing you to do it.
:25:03. > :25:13.That is abuse, child abuse, it is wrong. The government is now
:25:13. > :25:17.considering making forced marriage Probably about 10,000 of those in
:25:17. > :25:21.this country every year. We are looking at a substantial problem.
:25:21. > :25:25.We're just scratching the surface. Forced marriage is the earthquake
:25:25. > :25:32.and what has followed is a tsunami of domestic abuse, sexual abuse,
:25:32. > :25:36.child protection issues, suicide and murder. If we can tackle forced
:25:36. > :25:42.marriage, we can prevent all of these other things from happening.
:25:42. > :25:47.But the signs so far have not been encouraging. Three years ago, all
:25:47. > :25:51.public agencies in this country, thousands of organisations, were
:25:51. > :25:56.given the statutory guidelines in order to tackle forced marriage and
:25:56. > :26:00.honour abuse. But in a recent review, only 81 even responded. The
:26:00. > :26:10.government admits it is disappointing, shows inconsistency
:26:10. > :26:12.
:26:12. > :26:16.Considering that she is a minor, 15, it is important that you become
:26:17. > :26:22.involved in keeping her say. honour helpline receives dozens of
:26:22. > :26:25.calls a week about young girls at risk. The parents have found a text
:26:25. > :26:31.message on her phone and they believe the message to have been
:26:31. > :26:36.from a boy. They have beaten her and kept her off school. There's
:26:36. > :26:46.talk of her going to Pakistan in the half-term holidays. What might
:26:46. > :26:47.
:26:47. > :26:51.happen to her in Pakistan? She is Jazz Wenger is still fighting
:26:51. > :26:57.reluctance in some quarters to face the problems caused by the honour
:26:57. > :27:01.code. I have yet to see community leaders, and religious leaders,
:27:01. > :27:07.Asian councillors, politicians, give real leadership on this. They
:27:07. > :27:10.don't. They know it makes them unpopular. They know this is
:27:10. > :27:16.happening and to know that significant abuse in your
:27:16. > :27:19.communities is happening and not to demonstrate real leadership on this
:27:19. > :27:26.is extremely irresponsible, it is morally wrong and it is morally
:27:26. > :27:33.blind. Those who are trying to tackle it say all honour crimes
:27:33. > :27:37.must be confronted. It needs to be said that the vast majority that we
:27:37. > :27:40.see of the Muslim community, of which I'm a member. There's no
:27:40. > :27:45.place for a multicultural sensitivity in this situation. This
:27:45. > :27:48.is something we can't tolerate. The moment I stop looking at a
:27:49. > :27:58.community because somebody tells me it is too sensitive is the moment I
:27:58. > :28:08.But until young men reject violence in the name of Warner, others will
:28:08. > :28:14.
:28:14. > :28:18.die. -- honour. Everybody misses And until more families speak out