Naz Shah calls for bride's body to be exhumed over honour killing claim

BRADFORD WEST MP Naz Shah last night called for a former Yorkshire woman's body to be exhumed in Pakistan over fears she may have been the victim of a so-called honour killing.
MP for Bradford West, Naz Shah.MP for Bradford West, Naz Shah.
MP for Bradford West, Naz Shah.

Ms Shah said she wanted tests on the remains of Samia Shahid, 28, a beauty therapist from Bradford who died on a visit to Pakistan.

“I have raised the matter with West Yorkshire Police who were already aware of it,” said Ms Shah. “I want an autopsy so we can find out what happened.”

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Ms Shah says the matter was raised by a constituent and Mrs Shahid’s husband believes his wife’s family killed her for marrying an ‘outsider’ against her parents’ wishes.

Mrs Shahid died on Wednesday while visiting relatives in Pandori village near Mangla Dam in northern Punjab.

It was claimed Mrs Shahid, described as “happy and bubbly”, had suffered a fatal heart attack. Her husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazam, received the news last week while in Dubai, where the couple lived together.

It was claimed she died after an asthma attack. Her husband said he feared she had been killed by her family, who he says refused to accept their relationship, partly as he was an “outsider”.

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Shortly before Shahid and Kazam married in Leeds in September 2014, she had left her first husband, a first cousin from their village in Pakistan.

The family strongly deny the claims. Ms Shah has asked the prime minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif to intervene.