kiL A T E S T gN E W S
July 7, 2006:
A one-day conference in Leeds will discuss productive intervention and highlight future action against honour based crime.
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June 23, 2006:
A regional conference to raise awareness about forced marriage in the North West of England proved successful.
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June 9, 2006:
Organisations protest against the decision
of the Home Office to drop plans
of making forced marriage
a criminal offence.
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Organisation calls for
‘Justice for Barnaz’
London, June 30: An organisation has called for immediate police action when dealing with potential victims of honour killing after a violent death in January 2006 could have been prevented.
This morning the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation set up the petition “Justice for Barnaz” on their website to collect signatures asking London Metropolitan Police to treat women and men who report honour crime with seriousness and sensitivity.
“Police have to take action immediately to avoid further victims,” Diana Nammi, chair of the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation and International Campaign against Honour Killing, demanded.
“The moment a threatened woman is seeking help is the most sensitive time because by talking about her problems she dishonours her family.”
The organisation had found out by talking to the community that honour killing victim Banaz Mahmoud Babakir Agha had sought help from police in vain repeatedly.
“Banaz told officers that her family had gathered and they had decided to kill her,” Ms Nammi said.
“She even gave them names of people she was afraid of, but police have confirmed that Banaz was sent back home to her family every time.”
After disappearing in January 2006, the dead body of the 20-year-old woman of Kurdish origin had been found in a suitcase buried in a Birmingham garden.
The trial is expected to begin in November this year.