Murdered By Her In-Laws

My sister Asma and I had always been really close, there being only two years difference in our ages. She was older and always looked after me and helped me with things like homework.

We were raised in Glasgow, Scotland, in a huge house; nice garden, nice places to go to with our parents. My parents were really wealthy—my father had a massive import/export business—and we attended one of the most exclusive schools in Glasgow. Being privately educated, I would say that our intelligence level was a lot higher than the average Asian Muslim family in the United Kingdom.

We had the best of everything—trips abroad, expensive clothes, toys—and all the while we felt our parents loved us. Both of us got on really well with our parents.

Suddenly all this changed when Asma turned 21. The living we had taken so much for granted came to a very abrupt end. Both our parents said that it was time for Asma to get married and they would look for a suitable match for her.

Although we were born and bred in Scotland and had a Western education, my parents refused ever to allow us to go out with boys. We could watch all the television we wanted, go to Western movies, dress as we pleased, but we were not allowed to choose our own husbands.

Very soon after, my father together with a male cousin of mine decided that they had found the perfect match for Asma and went of to London to visit them and arrange for the marriage. Not once did my father ask Asma whether she wanted this match. She was completely excluded from all the arrangements.

My father chose Nasir Ahmed, a young Muslim in his early twenties who still lived with his family.