Rukhsana Naz

Rukhsana Naz (; 13 April 1978 – 26 March 1998) was a 19-year-old British Pakistani woman and mother-of-two from Normanton, Derby, who was murdered by her brother with the help of her mother in an honour killing.

Rukhsana's mother and two brothers went on trial at Nottingham Crown Court in May 1999. Shakeela Naz and the elder brother, Shazad Naz, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Rukhsana's case helped bring the issue of forced marriage to the fore in the UK. Shortly after the convictions Home Office minister Mike O'Brien launched an enquiry, setting up the Working Group on Forced Marriage which, in turn, led to the creation of the Forced Marriage Unit.

Background Rukhsana had a long-standing relationship with a fellow pupil from her school days, Imran Najib; the Naz family considered him to be "socially inferior"

Back in Derby, Rukhsana engaged in an affair with Imran who, by this stage, was also married; in late 1997 she fell pregnant with his child. She moved out of the family home, sharing a house with her sister Safina and brother-in-law, and hoped to have her baby, divorce Sajid and live with Imran.

When Shakeela Naz discovered that her daughter was expecting a child from an adulterous relationship she tried to force her into terminating her pregnancy, but Rukhsana refused. Shakeela kicked her daughter in the stomach and urged her to take a large quantity of paracetamol to try to bring about a miscarriage. Her remains were found on 31 March 1998, less than 2 weeks from her 20th birthday.

Iftikhar Naz Iftikhar Naz initially claimed to have been at the home of his girlfriend, Louise, during the timeframe that Rukhsana went missing; Louise duly provided him with an alibi. Maintaining he knew nothing about his sister's whereabouts, he noted that she'd been threatened by Imran Najib's father. He also told Louise that he feared she'd been kidnapped. Days later, Louise withdrew her support for the false alibi and alleged that Iftikhar had told her that he, his mother and brother had killed Rukhsana.

Legal proceedings Shakeela, Shazad and Iftikhar Naz stood trial at Nottingham Crown Court in May 1999, the trial lasted for two and a half weeks.

Shazad Naz's partial defence of provocation, on the basis of religious and cultural beliefs, was rejected

In his sentencing remarks, Mr Justice Tucker stated: