Atiq

At 17 Banaz Mahmod was forced to marry a man ten years older. She said he rped her and beat her until her ears bled. She escaped and fell in love. Her father and uncle had her rped, strangled and buried in a garden for kissing another man. She warned police five times. An officer called her melodramatic. Her body was found stuffed in a suitcase. Her sister Bekhal testified against their family despite death threats. In the video below the full story of Banaz Mahmod plays out - from her own police recordings to the secret tapes of her killers laughing about how long it took her to die. She was Kurdish. Born in Iraq. Came to Britain as a child. The marriage was arranged when she was 17. The man her family chose was ten years older and treated her like property from the start. She left him. Met Rahmat. They were seen kissing outside a Tube station. Someone called her uncle within minutes. Her father made his first attempt before the family council even met. He got her drunk, put on rubber gloves and came up behind her. She smashed a neighbor's window to escape. The officer who responded considered charging her for the broken glass. Three men entered her home on January 24th 2006 while she was alone. They r*ped her, tortured her and strangled her for over 30 minutes. She was 20. The body wasn't found for three months. Bekhal took the stand knowing the family would never forgive it. She has lived under a new name ever since. Two killers fled to Iraq. Detective Caroline Goode spent three years getting them extradited. It had never been done before. They were sentenced to life. Banaz recorded herself on a police camera saying: if anything happens to me, these are the people responsible. She gave names. She gave dates. She was ignored. Was Banaz Mahmod failed by the men who killed her, or by every person in authority who heard her say she was going to die and did nothing?