bijou
03-16-2009, 06:08 PM
In an Appeal Court test case he ruled that the welfare of children should not be put at risk because of the 'honour' idea held in some Muslim families.
The judge added: 'Arson, domestic violence and potential revenge likely to result in abduction or death are criminal acts which will be treated as such.
The case, involving three children of a Pakistani family who were removed by social workers and taken into care, is the first childcare case touching on honour issues to reach the level of the Appeal Court, which sets precedents to be followed in other courts.
The 41-year-old father of the children asked for the right to have contact with them, but was refused.
He also asked that the children, who have been put in the care of white non-Muslim foster parents, should be sent to live with a Muslim family.
The children were removed from the family following the death of another child and violent incidents connected to the role of a woman in their extended family.
Their 32-year-old mother is serving a five-year jail sentence for arson.
Violence in the family began when an uncle of the three children now in state care contracted a marriage to a woman from Pakistan, who was pregnant with her first child when she came to England in 2003. The child died at the age of 27 months after suffering multiple injuries.
The dead child was said in court to have shown injuries that may have been caused by sexual abuse.
The husband was convicted of murder. However, senior members of the family made it clear that they took his side.
A grandfather described the death of the child as an accident and the will of God, and made it clear that the husband should return to live at the family home on his release.
The mother of the dead child was said by Lord Justice Wall to have been kept 'under virtual house arrest' and to be unaware of the name of the city where she lived. In May 2005, with the help of police and social workers, she fled to a secret location with her second child. She is said to remain in fear of her life.
The family's campaign against the fleeing mother extended to involve the three children now in care and living with a foster family.
The mother of the three children - a sister of the husband convicted of murder - reported in 2005 that her sister-in-law had returned to the family home in the company of a friend and dressed in a burka and had assaulted the children.
She alleged that her sister-in-law had cut her hands and neck with a knife, poured white spirit over the clothes of one of the children, and had set fire to clothing. The story was found to be untrue, and the three children were taken into care.
The foster parents of the three children - a girl of 11 and boys of nine and five - have since had to move several times because of fears for their safety.
...link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1162409/Theres-honour-killing-judge-tells-Muslim-family-test-case.html)
The judge added: 'Arson, domestic violence and potential revenge likely to result in abduction or death are criminal acts which will be treated as such.
The case, involving three children of a Pakistani family who were removed by social workers and taken into care, is the first childcare case touching on honour issues to reach the level of the Appeal Court, which sets precedents to be followed in other courts.
The 41-year-old father of the children asked for the right to have contact with them, but was refused.
He also asked that the children, who have been put in the care of white non-Muslim foster parents, should be sent to live with a Muslim family.
The children were removed from the family following the death of another child and violent incidents connected to the role of a woman in their extended family.
Their 32-year-old mother is serving a five-year jail sentence for arson.
Violence in the family began when an uncle of the three children now in state care contracted a marriage to a woman from Pakistan, who was pregnant with her first child when she came to England in 2003. The child died at the age of 27 months after suffering multiple injuries.
The dead child was said in court to have shown injuries that may have been caused by sexual abuse.
The husband was convicted of murder. However, senior members of the family made it clear that they took his side.
A grandfather described the death of the child as an accident and the will of God, and made it clear that the husband should return to live at the family home on his release.
The mother of the dead child was said by Lord Justice Wall to have been kept 'under virtual house arrest' and to be unaware of the name of the city where she lived. In May 2005, with the help of police and social workers, she fled to a secret location with her second child. She is said to remain in fear of her life.
The family's campaign against the fleeing mother extended to involve the three children now in care and living with a foster family.
The mother of the three children - a sister of the husband convicted of murder - reported in 2005 that her sister-in-law had returned to the family home in the company of a friend and dressed in a burka and had assaulted the children.
She alleged that her sister-in-law had cut her hands and neck with a knife, poured white spirit over the clothes of one of the children, and had set fire to clothing. The story was found to be untrue, and the three children were taken into care.
The foster parents of the three children - a girl of 11 and boys of nine and five - have since had to move several times because of fears for their safety.
...link (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1162409/Theres-honour-killing-judge-tells-Muslim-family-test-case.html)