Shafilea's parents guilty!

[NicholasTeakozy]

At last. I'm so pleased that justice has been done. So called honour killings must be stopped.

I am so, so glad they have been found guilty. Feeling quite emotional about it, happened very close to my house and I have followed it from the start. Well done Alesha Ahmed.

utter bastards. Imagine being so skewed and perverse to actually believe that murdering your own child is somehow more acceptable than granting them some basic human rights. Words cannot express the contempt I feel for them, as well as the sorrow and sympathy I have for that poor, lonely girl and all the others around the world just like her.

Her sister was hugely brave and I hope her courage will inspire more women to come forward and try to fight against these so called 'cultural traditions' which are a euphemism for rape, imprisonment and , often, murder.

She was murdered in front of the other children, its a shame that they witnessed these events and then forced to lie under oath.

Poor, poor girl. Murdered by the people who are supposed to love and protect you the most.

Kudos to her very brave sister.

So glad that Justice has been done for Shafilea, hope her parents recieve a very very long sentance (actually, never to be released).

She would be so proud of Alesha Im sure, I hope she can go on and rebuild her life.

I don't understand why the other children cried when the verdicts were delivered. Surely they would have been glad to have those monsters far away and out of their lives?

That's a relief. Mind you, you could see which way it was going to go when the mum changed her story and blamed the dad.

Justice at last for Shafilea. Hope the courageous sister who revealed the truth can now live a safe,happy life. I fear she will be shunned by her family now.

link?

Just watching this on BBC News 24. a chief police officer referred to what Shafilea was going through before being murdered as domestic abuse. I am so sorry that this happened to this lively talented beautiful young woman but i was pleased (sorry thats not the right word but cant think of another one) to hear it being referred to as domestic abuse. The abuse of young people by some parents (and it happens across all cultures and walks of life) needs to be bloody well taken seriously and perhaps now it will.

BBC link Alex. They got life, with a minimum of 25 years. Excellent news.

Justice has been done.

I am so pleased that this beautiful, brave young woman has received justice. Let us all hope that this case will provide a lead for other young people to stand up for what they know is right. As to the other children, apart from Alesha, who thankfully is also truly brave and astonishing, I so hope that some one can teach them how truly wrong their parents were and help them learn a better way of life.

Shafilea's parents were IMO truly evil and deserve to die in prison.

I'm glad justice has been done but it is terrifying that the authorities failed her so badly, again and again and again. There were many opportunities to save her - she asked social services for help, FGS. She was in hospital for ten weeks after drinking bleach in Pakistant, FGS. It seems there was just ONE teacher who tried to help - and was unable to persuade the authorities to act in any meaningful way.

How many other young women will be beaten, abused, and bullied into forced marriages before the police, social services, education and housing start taking this seriously?

It seems it is only since an Asian lawyer became head of the CPS in the North West that these appalling crimes are being prosecuted - the Rochdale mass sexual abuse and this murder. What about everywhere else?

Has justice been done?

Shafilea is dead. Girls are still being forced into arranged marriages and - just as in the grooming/sexual abuse cases - the police are too scared to act because they fear being accused of racism.

Yes, Shafilea is dead, but her parents have been found guilty of her murder and will be in prison for a minimum 25 years. So in that sense Justice has been done.

Now the police and CPS must investigate and prosecute every case they even suspect of being an 'honour' crime or forced marriage. Because it isn't ant-religion, nor is it racist, but a cultural problem. Attitudes on all sides must change until these crimes are put behind us.

The whole thing is incredibly sad. I am glad that the parents finally got what they deserved, but I wonder how shafilea's siblings will ever get over what has happened. To witness such a thing must scar you for life, and apart from Alesha, they will also have to live with the guilt of having lied for their parents. Awful.

I agree that this is a cultural problem, and not a religious one. The tragic irony of it all is that the parents have brought far more shame on themselves and their family than poor shafilea could ever have done. Such a pointless waste of a precious life.

So, so pleased with the sentence in this case. The sister is a brave, amazing person.

There's an interview over on the Daily Wail this morning with the Danish first wife of the father, which makes for quite surprising reading.

Identifying abuse and dangerous behaviour within families (particularly secretive/close knit ones with traditional cultural views) is hard but the police and social worker/health resources MUST continue be put into it. The fumbles that this case suffered before the current prosecutor came on board are quite worrying.

On a separate note , no matter what the community, the worrying sense of "ownership" that a lot of parents (whether they're violent/abusive or not) feel about their children must be addressed (not sure how? Public education, telling kids to speak out if the way they are being treated is 'not ok'?). My abusive mother (who I am not in contact with anymore) used to say to me when angry "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it". I can well believe she would've acted on the threat if she was angry enough, she used to pin me up against the wall for questioning her authority on minor points. But my family were totally middle class and respectable from the outside. My attempts to ask teachers at my (posh, private) school went unanswered. Those words haunted me while reading coverage of Shafilea's case. Parents do not own their children's bodies or minds.

I'm glad you managed to escape your mother, Zara.

There's a charity that has produced a video and teaching materials for schools on the issue of abuse, violence and forced marriages - I think it's Plan UK. Hope plenty of schools take it up.