Aqsa Parvez’s Father and Brother Convicted of “Honor Killing”

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National Post h/t Dr Bulldog



Megan O’Toole , National Post · Wednesday, Jun. 16, 2010

BRAMPTON, ONT. -- A “twisted, chilling and repugnant mindset” spurred the father and brother of Aqsa Parvez to strangle the teenager to death, a judge ruled Wednesday, before sentencing both men to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.

The Crown has characterized Aqsa’s slaying as an honour killing and, in issuing his ruling Wednesday, Justice Bruce Durno said the “abhorrent motivation” called for a significant penalty.

“It is profoundly disturbing that a 16-year-old woman, no doubt facing significant challenges adjusting to living in a very different society than her parents,’ could be murdered by her father and brother for the purpose of saving the family pride,” Durno said as Muhammad Parvez and his son, Waqas, sat expressionless in the prisoner’s box. Aqsa’s mother and several of her siblings sat quietly in the courtroom behind them; her mother, Anwar Jan, occasionally dabbed her eyes.

“That twisted, chilling and repugnant mindset could imply that the family pride could at least be kept intact — or perhaps even enhanced — by having two grown men overpower and kill a vulnerable teenager,” Durno said.

The two men pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Aqsa’s 2007 slaying a day earlier. The crime comes with an automatic life sentence, and both Crown and defence had recommended 18 years of parole ineligibility.

Aqsa Parvez, the youngest of eight children, was 16 years old when her father and brother conspired to strangle her. An agreed statement of facts details a clash of cultures, pitting Aqsa against her father’s oppressive, patriarchal rule.

Originally from Pakistan, Aqsa became increasingly enmeshed in western culture after the family relocated to Mississauga, Ont., in 2001, setting the stage for increased tensions at home.

Women in the Parvez family were expected to dress traditionally, to rely on men for financial stability, and to spend most of their free time confined to the household. Arranged to be married to a Pakistani man, Aqsa longed for the freedom to dress as she wished and spend evenings with her friends; she craved privacy, as her bedroom had no door.

In late November 2007, Aqsa decided she had had enough, and elected to leave home.

“She confided in her closest friends that her father had sworn to her on the Koran that if she ran away again, he would kill her,” Crown attorney Sandra Caponecchia told the court this week.

Days before she died, Aqsa enjoyed a movie for the first time, and had started to take steps toward a part-time job. But on Dec. 10, 2007, her brother picked her up from the bus stop as she waited there with a friend.

Half an hour later, Aqsa’s father called police to say he had killed Aqsa with his bare hands. He was charged in her murder the same day.

Almost more chilling than the crime itself was the family’s willingness to defend it in statements to police. The teenager’s siblings agreed Aqsa deserved violent retribution for her disobedience; Aqsa’s mother, Jan, suggested it was acceptable in Pakistan to kill children for such behaviour.

In breaks from the police interview, the visibly distraught mother was recorded lamenting aloud: “Oh God, oh Aqsa. You did not listen — you died . . . Oh God . . . broken legs and arms . . . said will break legs and arms — has killed her straight away. What should I do?”

Waqas Parvez was initially charged with obstructing police after telling them he had not seen Aqsa since a week before the murder, although witnesses watched him pick her up at the bus stop that very day.

Charges against Waqas Parvez were later upped to first-degree murder after police intercepted a conversation between him and a colleague. In it, Aqsa’s brother admitted choking the teenager until she died, and asserted “the guilt was killing him.”