Karma Nirvana (registered charity no. 1089477) is an Asian men and women's project.

What could possibly be more honourable, if you're a big strong brute of a chap, than to beat, bully, batter, brutalize, maim and murder your daughter or sister if she falls short of your ideal view of the perfect female?

If she has the spirit to run for her life, then how much more 'honourable' is it to get four or five other big, strong, male members of your family to join in and help to track her down and kill her ?

If you really don't have the stomach to murder someone smaller and weaker than you, then it's fine to call in a hit man or three to do it for you.

Isn't it...?

And it's not only girls who fall foul of Islam's brutal laws and customs.
Boys, too, suffer under draconian Sharia law...

Last updated: 8 DEC 2007 - another attrocity added at the end.

Have you suffered 'honour'-based violence? Do you fear
a forced marriage? Don't know where to go for help?

This is a charity set up by survivors of
forced marriage and 'honour'-based violence for
those who are now where they have been.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

BANAZ MAHMOD BABAKIR AGHA
Mitcham, Surrey.

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour to her family by
daring to leave an abusive arranged marriage
then falling in love with a man from a different clan.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by strangulation with a bootlace following rape.

HER KILLERS:
Her father - Mahmod Mahmod (convicted and jailed)
Her uncle - Ari Mahmod (convicted and jailed)
Hit man - Mohamad Hama (pleaded guilty and jailed)
Hit man - Omar Hussein (believed to have fled to Iraq)
Hit man - Mohammed Ali (believed to have fled to Iraq)

HER AGE:
20

RUKHSANA NAZ
Birmingham.

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour to her family by
wanting a divorce from her husband -
she had an arranged marriage, aged 15,
from which there were two children.

Refusing to have an abortion when pregnant
by her childhood sweetheart.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by strangulation with a skipping rope.

HER KILLERS:
Her brother - Shazad (convicted and jailed)
Her mother - Shakeela who held her down (convicted and jailed)

HER AGE:
19

HESHU YONES
Acton, London.

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour to her family by
becoming too westernized,
wanting her independence,
having a Lebanese Christian boyfriend
and liking make-up.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by being hacked with a kitchen knife -
stabbed eleven times and her throat slit.

HER KILLER:
Her father - Abdallah Yones (convicted and jailed)

HER AGE:
16

SAMAIRA NAZIR
Southall, Middlesex.

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour to her family by
refusing to agree to an arranged marriage and
wanting to marry an Afghan man from a different caste.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by being hacked with four knives
- stabbed eighteen 18 times, and her throat was
tied tightly with a scarf and slit in three places
while her daughters, aged 2 and 4, were screaming
and were splattered with her blood.

HER KILLERS:
Her brother - Azhar Nazir (convicted and jailed)
Her cousin - Imran Mohammed (convicted and jailed)
Her father who fled and is believed to be in hiding in Pakistan.

HER AGE:
25

TASLEEM BEGUM
Bradford, Yorkshire.

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour to her family by
refusing to apply for a visa for her husband
of an arranged marriage to join her in Britain,
leaving her parental home and
beginning a secret relationship with another man.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by motor vehicle -
she was knocked down and run over,
then reversed over,
and then driven over again.

HER KILLER:
Her cousin, also brother-in-law - Shabir Hussain (convicted and jailed)

HER AGE:
20

JASPAL SOHAL
London

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour on her husband of
an arranged marriage by wanting to leave him.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by battering with a hammer.

HER KILLERS:
Her husband (convicted and jailed)

HER AGE:
unknown

ANITA GINDHA
Manor Park, London.

HER CRIMES:
Bringing dishonour to her family by running away to
Wolverhampton to escape an arranged marriage to a man in India,
and marrying the man she loved.

HER PUNISHMENT:
Death by strangulation while 8½ months pregnant with
her second child, and in front of her nineteen month old son.

HER KILLER:
Hit man (?) - Palwinder Singh Dhillon (convicted and jailed)

HER AGE:
22

"All human beings are born free
and equal in dignity and rights."

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 1.

"Violence in the name of culture will not be tolerated.
Murder in the name of honour will be
punished by the severest penalties available in law."

Cdr. Andy Baker
head of the Metropolitan Police's
Serious Crime Directorate.

Unfortunately, that is not nearly severe enough.

I genuinely cannot comprehend how and why anyone would - or could - with premeditation and malice aforethought, brutally kill a family member whom he would normally be expected to love and cherish and treat with compassion when she stumbles on her path through life.

Just because one has the power of life or death over another -
weaker - person, doesn't mean you have to exert it.

S.M.