But what are honour killings and how common are they in the UK?
What is an honour killing?
Honour killings are committed within families or social groups with the purpose of controlling behaviour, reports the Honour Based Violence Awareness Network (HBVAN).
Such murders are carried in the name of protecting cultural beliefs or honour.
Those targeted are believed to have shamed their family or community.
Reasons given for this can include refusing an arranged marriage, entering a relationship with someone disapproved of, renouncing faith and behaving or dressing in a way thought to be inappropriate.
Both men and women can be victims of honour killings, although women are more commonly targeted.
The HBVAN stresses that there is little scriptural support for honour killings in any major religion, and it has been roundly condemned by several high status religious leaders.
How common are honour killings in the UK?
Data from the HBVAN estimates there are 12 honour killings in the UK each year.
Around 5,000 so-called honour crimes happen worldwide every year.
The crimes are usually aimed at women, and can include abductions and beatings.
Recent examples of honour killings
- Samia Shahid, 28, of Bradford, died while visiting relatives in Pakistan in 2016. Her ex-husband Mohammed Shakeel and father Muhammad Shahid were arrested in connection to the killing. Samia had divorced ex-husband Shakeel and later moved to Dubai with her second husband.
- Mum-of-three Rania Alayed, 25, was killed by her husband and buried in a suitcase close to the A19 in North Yorkshire in 2013. Ahmed Al-Khatib was jailed for a minimum of 20 years after court heard he subjected her to years of abuse believing she was becoming too Westernised. Syrian Rania had fled her home with her children but Al-Khatib lured her to a Greater Manchester flat.
- Banaz Mahmod, 20, was strangled in 2006 and buried in a suitcase in Birmingham. The Iraqi Kurd from South London died after walking out on her violent husband and beginning a relationship with a man her family did not approve of. Her father Mahmod Mahmod and uncle Ari Mahmod were jailed for life her murder in 2007.
- Samaira Nazirn was stabbed 18 times at her family home in Southall, London, in April 2015. Her brother and cousin were jailed for life after being convicted of her murder. Samaira had asked to marry an Afghan asylum seeker rather than someone in the Pakistani family circle.
- British Pakistani Shafilea Ahmed, 17, vanished from her home in Cheshire in 2003. Her body was found in a river in Cumbria six months later. Her parents Iftikhar, 52, and Farzana Ahmed, 49, were jailed in 2012 after being found guilty of murder. Prosecutors had said Shafilea's parents felt her Western ways bought shame on the family.
- Pranay Kumar, 24, was hacked to death with a machete on September 14, 2018, in front of his pregnant wife – because he came from a “lower caste”. He was killed in broad daylight as he and his wife Amrutha Varshini, 23, were coming out of Jyothi Hospital in Miryalguda, India. The couple married in January, 2018, despite opposition from both families due to their class difference.
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