MP: ‘My mum killed the man who abused her – but we’d see her as a victim today’
MP: ‘My mum killed the man who abused her – but we’d see her as a victim today’
Naz Shah, a Labour MP, has shared her mother’s harrowing experience of abuse and the subsequent murder of the man responsible. Speaking to Sarah-Jane Mee on UK Tonight, she discussed her new memoir Honoured: Survival, Strength And My Path to Politics.
“My earliest recollection was of my father physically abusing my mother,” Shah said.
At the age of six, her father fled with a neighbor, leaving Zoora, her mother, to face further torment. Zoora endured years of sexual exploitation at the hands of Azam, whom she regarded as “uncle.”
“Imagine a 23-year-old woman, mother to three young children, thrust into a foreign country with no grasp of the language, living in rented housing and deep poverty. She was entirely isolated by her situation,” Shah explained.
Initially, Azam appeared as a savior, offering Zoora a home when she struggled to secure a mortgage. However, his actions soon shifted from support to abuse over a prolonged period.
Zoora took matters into her own hands, administering arsenic to Azam, resulting in his death. She was convicted of murder and received a 20-year prison sentence.
“She received a 20-year sentence because she was viewed as a woman striving to obtain a house, not as the destitute and desperate individual she truly was at the time,” Shah noted.
Shah highlighted the gender inequality within the justice system, advocating for reforms that address the treatment of women who commit acts of self-defense against abuse.
Breaking the Chains of Honour
Shah emphasized that the cultural notion of ‘izzat’—or honor—prevented her mother from revealing the truth about Azam’s abuse. She believes this patriarchal concept continues to silence women, shifting blame onto them.
“From my mother’s perspective, the concept of honor held her back. I recall the jury foreman stating, ‘If I had known her story, I might not have convicted her for murder,'”
She argued that the community should embrace the example set by Gisèle Pelicot in France, reversing the shame placed on women and attributing it to the men who perpetrate harm.
“The idea is that women carry the stigma of shame, while men enjoy the accolades of honor,” Shah concluded.
