Banaz Mahmod

Banaz Mahmod (, 16 December 1985 – 24 January 2006) was a 20-year-old Iraqi Kurdish woman who lived in Mitcham, South London, England. She was murdered on the orders of her family in a so-called honour killing because she ended a violent and abusive forced marriage and started a relationship with someone of her own choosing. Her father, uncle and three cousins were later convicted of her murder.

Background

Family The Mahmods were a strictly traditional Iraqi Kurdish family from the rural Mirawdale tribal area of Qaladiza in Iraqi Kurdistan. Mahmod Babakir Mahmod and his wife Behya had a son and five daughters.

The family sought asylum in the United Kingdom in 1995 when Banaz was ten years old.

Banaz's eldest sister had an arranged marriage as did her younger sister Payman (also known as Payzee), who was married at the age of 16 to a man fifteen years her senior. Bekhal, two years older than Banaz, fled the family home in 2002 and spent time in foster care. Bekhal reported that she had been subjected to physical abuse and threats because she mixed with people her family did not approve of and experimented with Western clothing and hairstyles. She reported that an attempt was made to kill her and that her father threatened to kill her mother, sisters and himself if she did not return to the family home. Mahmod Babakir Mahmod's failure to control Bekhal was viewed as weakness within the Kurdish community, and he was subjected to a degree of ostracism as a result.

Timeline At age 16/17, Banaz was forced into an arranged marriage with a man from the family's Kurdish native hometown of Qaladiza. By her account he was 10 years her senior, illiterate and old-fashioned; she described his mindset as something from "fifty years prior". Her family were aware of the violence inflicted upon her, but told her that leaving her husband would bring shame on them. Despite this, and with the abuse continuing, she eventually left after two years of marriage; she returned to the family home in July 2005

Both Banaz's uncle, Ari Agha Mahmod, and father Mahmod disapproved of her actions

On New Year's Eve, the police were called to a café in Wimbledon where Banaz had arrived in a distressed state saying that her father had tried to kill her. She was under the influence of alcohol, which her father had made her drink, Mohamad Marid Hama, Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain arrived at the property shortly thereafter; according to covert recordings made of Hama speaking with a visitor while he was on remand, the trio subjected Banaz to more than two hours of rape and torture before she was strangled with a ligature. the police into taking action. Instrumental to this decision was Sulemani's positive identification of Hama as one of those who had earlier tried to kidnap him and who had threatened to kill both him and Banaz. While in custody, Hama was covertly recorded bragging about his role, and the role of others, in the murder of Banaz and the disposal of her body. Her body was found on 28 April 2006.

On 1 May 2006, Banaz's uncle Ari Agha Mahmod was charged with murder; a few months later, in August, Banaz's father Mahmod Babakir Mahmod was also charged with murder.

Banaz was laid to rest at Merton and Sutton Joint Cemetery, Morden; her family left her grave unmarked.

On 26 June 2007, a memorial service was held for Banaz at Morden Assembly Hall, following which a granite memorial headstone was placed at her gravesite. Her family did not attend either service. The purchase of the gravestone was arranged by the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO);

Extradition from Iraq Both Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain fled to Iraqi Kurdistan after the murder.

In October 2007, Scotland Yard were notified that Ali was in custody in Sulaimaniya where he had killed a teenage boy in a hit-and-run incident. He was extradited in June 2009, in what was the first ever extradition from Iraq to the United Kingdom, a move described by DCI Goode as making "legal history".

Hussain had been hiding out in a remote area of Iraq shielded by his brothers, one of whom was Peshmerga and the other a member of the Asayish security services. During a dispute with one of his brothers in December 2009, he was shot in the leg and was duly arrested when he presented himself at the hospital. Hussain insisted that he was not in the United Kingdom at the time Banaz was murdered and that it was a case of mistaken identity, but UK welfare benefit records as well as photographic evidence from a previous arrest proved otherwise, and he was extradited back to England in March 2010.

Legal proceedings The first of three trials relating to the murder commenced on 5 March 2007 at the Central Criminal Court and lasted for 14 weeks.

Sulemani, and Banaz's sister Bekhal, testified for the prosecution; in the lead up to the trial both were subjected to threats and intimidation from within the Kurdish community and placed under police protection.

In June 2007, Banaz' father and uncle were unanimously found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 20 and 23 years respectively; Mohammad Hama pleaded guilty to murder shortly after the start of the trial and was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 17 years.

In November 2010, Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain were found guilty of murder and sentenced to serve at least 22 and 21 years respectively.

Convictions and sentences + Convictions Sentence Mahmod Babakir Mahmod (victim's father) Murder Life imprisonment with minimum term of 20 years Ari Agha Mahmod (victim's uncle) Murder Life imprisonment with minimum term of 23 years Mohamad Marid Hama Murder Life imprisonment with minimum term of 17 years Pshtewan Hama Conspiracy to pervert the course of justice Time served Mohammed Saleh Ali (victim's cousin) Murder, conspiracy to kidnap, threats to kill, perverting the course of justice Life imprisonment with minimum term of 22 years Omar Hussain (victim's cousin) Murder, conspiracy to kidnap, threats to kill, perverting the course of justice Life imprisonment with minimum term of 21 years Dana Amin (victim's cousin) Perverting the course of justice, preventing the lawful burial of a body Eight years imprisonment [Time served]

Aftermath The Metropolitan Police team responsible for finding Banaz's body and for building a case against those involved in her murder won the Detective Investigation Award for their work; Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode was awarded the Queen's Police Medal for her work leading the investigation.

Independent Police Complaints Commission The handling of Banaz's case by the Metropolitan Police and West Midlands Police leading up to her murder was investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It found that she had been "let down" and that death threats she had reported were not taken seriously. IPCC Commissioner Nicola Williams said: "Banaz Mahmod was a young woman who lost her life in terrible circumstances [...] It is clear that the police response was at best mixed [...] There were delays in investigations, poor supervision, a lack of understanding and insensitivity".

As a result of its investigation, the IPCC recommended that written warnings be issued to several police officers involved in the case and that two Metropolitan Police officers should appear before a disciplinary panel as a result of the "worst failings" found.

Disciplinary panel The disciplinary panel, scheduled to sit on 17 November 2008, related to the incident of 31 December 2005, when Banaz said that her father had tried to kill her, but was dismissed as "manipulative" and "melodramatic" by PC Angela Cornes who responded to the call. The disciplinary panel was abandoned before it could convene as the key witness, thought to be Sulemani, declined to take part.

Rahmat Sulemani Following Banaz's murder, Sulemani went into witness protection.

Sulemani struggled to adjust to his new life and the isolative nature of witness protection, and seemingly never recovered from Banaz's murder; he died by suicide in 2016.

In popular culture Banaz's case was chronicled in the 2012 documentary film Banaz: A Love Story, directed and produced by Deeyah Khan.

A ballad was created by a 13-year-old girl, narrating the story of Banaz and published in Sisterhood.

"Love Like Blood" (2017), from the Tom Thorne crime series by author Mark Billingham was inspired by Banaz's story and is dedicated to the memory of both her and Rahmat Sulemani.

A two-part drama, Honour, chronicles the investigation into the murder of Banaz. Starring Keeley Hawes as Caroline Goode, it was screened on ITV on 28 and 29 September 2020.

External links and further reading BBC Outlook (2013): Interview with DCI Caroline Goode & Deeyah Khan - I Tracked Down Banaz "Honour Killers" Fuuse Documentary. Banaz. A Love Story Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC): Executive Summary: Contact between Banaz Mahmod and the Metropolitan Police Service and West Midlands Police Honour-based Violence (HBV) and Honour-based Killings in Iraqi Kurdistan and in the Kurdish Diaspora in the UK (Journal of Gender Studies) Payzee Mahmod: "A survivor's plea to end child marriage" Banaz's sister Payzee Mahmod at TEDxLondonWomen, December 2019