A teenage girl was murdered by her parents in front of her siblings for wearing a top that showed off her arms.
Shafilea Ahmed, 17, suffered years of abuse from her mum and dad before they decided to end her life for bringing dishonour to the family.
The couple pinned their daughter down on the sofa and stuffed a carrier bag into her mouth until she turned blue and suffocated in September 2003.
Her father, Iftikhar Ahmed, then put her body in the back of his car and dumped it 70 miles away from their home in Warrington.
The next day police were alerted when Shafilea wasnt seen at school – but her parents stated she had run away.
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Now one of the teenagers close family friends, Shanin Munir, has helped reveal the extent of the abuse she went through before her death.
In a new documentary called When Missing Turns into Murder, she said Shafileas mum and dad would often call her a whore and a prostitute and beat her if they believed she was misbehaving.
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The teenager dreamed of being a lawyer and had texted boys, although not on her own phone because her parents would check, Shanin said.
She told The Sun: Id heard there were physical beatings and a lot of emotional abuse. Her sister told me her parents would lock Shafilea in the garden.
She wanted to escape her home, for her it was hell.
Shafilea was the oldest child of Farzana and Iftikhar Ahmed, who met through an arranged marriage.
As she got older, she adopted a more Western way of living, taking an interest in fashion and wearing make-up and false nails.
Her parents tried to curb her rebellious nature and one year arranged a holiday to Pakistan, where they intended to marry her off to a cousin.
Shafilea refused to go and so her father drugged her with sleeping pills as a result.
After awaking in Pakistan, the teenager was so terrified about what would happen she drank bleach in a suicide attempt, severely burning her throat and oesophagus.
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She was rushed to hospital and kept there for two months, while her father and siblings flew back home to the UK.
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When she was well enough to return, he told medical professionals in Warrington that his daughter had mistaken the bleach for mouthwash.
After that, the abuse grew more intense and Shafileas parents planned an honour killing as a way to end the shame she had brought on the family.
During a furious row over her short-sleeved top, they killed her in the living room and made her siblings watch.
Shafileas body was found five months after her death in the River Kent near Sedgwick, Cumbria.
The family put on a funeral and pretended to grieve, but her sister AleRead More – Source
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