Vigil to be held for murdered mother-to-be on her baby's due date

Fawziyah Javed, 31, died in September and her husband Kashif Anwar, 27, appeared in court charged with her murder.

He made no plea as he appeared in private during a short hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court in September.

Fawziyah died on September 2 - two days before her 32nd birthday which she planned to celebrate in Yorkshire, and less than a week before she was due to start a new job.

The newlyweds, of Leeds, had been married for eight months, and Fawziyah was four months pregnant and thrilled at the prospect of becoming a mum.

Privately educated Fawziyah - whose name means 'success' in Arabic - was described by her parents as 'an angel on earth' who would help anyone.

She was a successful solicitor and did a lot of charity work.

Her parents, Mohammed and Yasmin Javed, adored her and couldn't wait to become grandparents. The couple, who live in Leeds, will travel to Scotland to the court case.

Mother-of-one Yasmin, 54, said every day feels surreal and she needs sleeping pills to get through the night.

Yasmin said: "She was an intelligent, articulate young woman. She was a perfect child, she was beautiful inside and out. There is a stereotype of women who are not educated or financially secure, with no support network, who rely on men - she was the complete opposite.

"She was earning good money, she was intelligent - it can happen to anyone. A lot of people have described her as an 'angel on earth'. She was very humble, a teacher wrote to me who Fawziyah kept in touch with for 13 years and said 'I didn't realise how much charity work she did', she never talked about it.

"She had her feet on the ground. Fawziyah would go above and beyond what was expected, she would never say no to anybody. She had perfect manners, I feel like the whole world is mourning her."

Yasmin and husband Mohammed, 56, have found their lives put on hold since the tragedy, which happened two days before Fawziyah was due to travel home to Pudsey, West Yorks.

Yasmin added: "It's surreal, I can't get my head around it. Our lives are finished - we lived and we breathed for Fawziyah. We are just existing.

"We are staying in all the time and going to sleep with the aid of sleeping tablets. I'm the complete opposite of what I used to be like. She was about to have a baby and we are planning a vigil.

"This happened on a Thursday evening and she was about to start a new job on the Monday. She had her whole life ahead of her. She was nearly four months pregnant. She was really excited, she would have been a wonderful mum.

"It's absolutely heartwrenching, my heart is broken into a million pieces. We will travel up to Scotland for the court case. I have to do it for her. I wake up with this constant pain, and I go to sleep with it.

"It happened on September 2, and it was her birthday on September 4. That was the day we traveled up to Edinburgh to identify her body. It was the day she was supposed to travel back to Yorkshire for her birthday.

"Her name is the Arabic word for successful - she had everything going for her."

The vigil will take place at 4.30pm – the same time as one in Leeds.

Among those attending the Arthur's Seat vigil will be Yasmin’s cousin Adnan Hanif, who is studying at Edinburgh University.

Chloe Whyte, who is organising the event, said there would be speeches from representatives of a local women’s aid organisation and others, as well as poems and a minute’s silence.

She said: “We’re also going to have an opportunity to lay candles, flowers and other tokens. Anything that is donate-able will later on be taken to women’s refuges.”

People are asked to gather at the grassy steps by the Scottish Parliament pools for 4.30pm and requested to wear masks and observe social distancing, as well as bring torches and wrap up warm.