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Police have seen 'honour' crime surge by 40 per cent due to rising fundamentalism, new figures show.

Honour-based violence, including crimes like murder, rape and kidnap has rocketed in London during the past year.

Reported instances of intimidation and attempts at forced marriage have also increased by 60 per cent.

A report into the scale of the problem by Scotland Yard found there were 161 honour-based incidents recorded in 2007-8, of which 93 were criminal offences.

But in 2008/9 the number of incidents had risen to 256, with 132 being criminal offences.

The latest figures indicate that the trend is continuing, with 211 incidents reported in the last six months until October, of which 129 were offences - more than double the number in the same period last year.

Police define honour crimes as offences motivated by a desire to protect the honour of a family or community.

Diana Nammi, of the Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organisation, said the group is now dealing with four times more complaints relating to honour than two years ago.

She said: 'More women are coming forward. They are becoming more aware of their rights in the UK, that there is help available and they feel confident enough to report matters to the police.

'But I also think cases and violence are increasing.

'One reason is the rise in fundamentalism. The problem is increasing in communities around the UK.

'We are seeing a rise not only in honour killings, but also in female genital mutilation and polygamy.'


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She added: 'The rise in Sharia courts is another indication of more fundamental beliefs.

'There must be more support from the Government to organisations who are working to combat this problem.'

The Metropolitan Police also records incidents where no offences has been committed, such as complaints by women that they are under pressure to enter into forced marriages.

Recently there have been a series of horrific attacks linked to 'honour'.
Geeta Aulakh

Police are still investigating the death of 28-year-old Geeta Aulakh

Detectives are still investigating the death of mother-of-two Geeta Aulakh, 28, who was hacked to death with a sword in Greenford, north west London last month.

An 18-year-old student has been charged with her murder.

In July, a 24-year-old Asian man from Denmark lost part of his tongue and was left blind in one eye when he had acid thrown in his face in Leytonstone.

Police believe he was attacked over his relationship with a married Muslim woman.

Two men are awaiting trial over the assault.

Campaigners believe honour attacks are on the up due to rising fundamentalism in communities around Britain.

Up to 12 people are murdered every year in the name of honour, and police fear a further 500 people are forced into an arranged marriage or attacked.

One of the most high-profile cases was that of Banaz Mahmod who was murdered by members of her own family after falling in love with a man they disapproved of.

The 20-year-old, who had left an arranged marriage and started a relationship with Rhamat Sulemani, 29, was strangled with a bootlace at her home in Surrey in January 2006.

Her father Mahmod Mahmod, 52, and uncle Ari Mahmod, 50, of Mitcham, were later convicted of the killing after the pair decided she must pay 'the ultimate price' for bringing shame on them.

Earlier this year, police were issued with new guidance telling them to assume honour crimes have been committed in more circumstances.

Senior officers anticipated that the move would drive up figures as in many cases only limited information is available or a potential victim refuses to help police.

Detective Chief Inspector Gerry Campbell, of the Metropolitan Police, said: 'The description of this type of crime is misplaced. There is no honour in these crimes.'

Mr Campbell said the Met had improved its intelligence systems to better identify such crimes.

He said: 'Ten years ago our knowledge was almost absent but we have worked hard and our knowledge has improved substantially.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1233918/Honour-crime-40-rising-fundamentalism.html#ixzz0Z2NfGhQ1


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Pimps sold a young woman as a sex slave in broad daylight on Britain’s busiest shopping street.

A brothel owner paid just £3,000 for the Lithuanian victim, a woman in her 20s, in the transaction on London’s Oxford Street.

Police surveillance footage shows an Albanian man handing over the cash to two of his countrymen outside Selfridges department store as shoppers pass by, unaware of what is happening.
Gazmet Turku hands over £3,000 to Izzet Fejzullahu and Agran Demarku in Oxford Street

Caught in the act: Gazmet Turku hands over £3,000 to Izzet Fejzullahu (second from right) and Agran Demarku (right) in Oxford Street. He is 'buying' the Lithuanian woman pictured on the left to work in his brothel. All three Albanian men have been jailed and the girl returned to Lithuania

The helpless woman - guarded by a thug - is forced to watch as the men discuss the deal.

She would have been expected to earn her new ‘owner’ £100,000 a year by having sex up to 25 times a day in a brothel.

On this occasion, the woman was lucky. Police swooped to free her and her traffickers were jailed for a total of 63 years.

The Home Office estimated that in 2003, the most recent figures available, 4,000 women were trafficked into the UK for prostitution.

Police warn that the numbers of Eastern Europeans being trafficked into the UK will grow significantly in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

A rise in so-called ‘vice activity’ has already been detected in the five Olympic boroughs of Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest and Greenwich, to cater for demand from 25,000 construction workers.

A special police squad has been set up to tackle the trafficking. Officers cite the example of a 16-year-old Albanian girl who thought she was coming to London for a romantic weekend with her boyfriend. When they arrived, he handed her over to pimps.


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Police released the photo of the woman being trafficked on Oxford Street in a bid to raise awareness of the problem.

Seller number one, Izzet Fejzullahu - an Albanian vice gang member - is pictured selling the girl for £3,000. He was jailed for 14 years at London's Southwark Crown Court for controlling prostitution.

Seller number two, Albanian Agran Demarku, is seen discussing the deal with the brothel owner. He was sentenced to 18 years, as was his brother, Flamur, who stood guard over the girl.

The buyer, brothel owner Gazmet Turku, was also jailed.

Detective Chief Superintendent Richard Martin, of the Metropolitan Police Clubs and Vice Unit, said: 'The man to the left in the picture has £3,000 in cash in his hand, with which he is buying a human being.

'She is just a commodity to them. She is an item for selling sex.

'The man is buying the girl for his own brothel from the men to his right, who ran a network of nine brothels. He is simply replenishing his stock, as a shopkeeper would.

'These women are put into slavery and exploited in the vilest way.'

Detective Superintendent Martin said 25 trafficked women had been rescued by his unit this year.

'We have had people kidnapped and smuggled into the UK,' he said. 'Others came in thinking they were working in bars but were put to work in brothels.

'Their passports were taken, they were threatened - and some were systematically raped and beaten up.'