Ari Mahmod, one of several family members sentenced in the murder of 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod, has launched a lawsuit against ITV alleging libel in a documentary and drama aired on his niece’s killing, according to British media reports.
Honour coming to ITV on September 28 & 29 starring Keeley Hawes as DCI Caroline Goode and Buket Komur as Banaz Mahmod. pic.twitter.com/Z8uhcbHhJ4
— All Things Keeley Hawes (@allthingshawes) September 7, 2020
Mahmod is one of five men serving life in prison for the murder of Banaz, who was raped by her cousin and then stranged to death after she left an abusive forced marriage with an older man and began dating someone new.
Speaking to the High Court though a videolink from HMP Witemoor earlier this month, he told the court that honor killing is acceptable in Iraqi Muslim culture but the rape accusations had damaged his accusation and caused him to be attacked in prison, according to the Telegraph.
“In my country, murder is normal. After serving time, you have a new opportunity. In my culture the main things they react against me was the rape allegation,” he said while representing himself in court.
While referring to himself in the third person, he told the courts: “Prisoners attempt to hurt Ari Mahmod.
“Almost all statements left no doubts the allegation of rape was with Ari’s blessing. In the Islamic community rape is taboo. It is the highest level of crime.”
Ben Gallop, the barrister representing ITV, said: “The claimant is a convicted murderer.
“This is rare for a claim of libel as the possibility of any damage to his reputation is limited due to his pre-existing bad reputation.”
A judgment is expected in the next month.
A family source told The Sun, “He’s never shown any remorse and is presumably now trying to make money out of how he has been portrayed.
“His characterisation appeared accurate.”
The honor killing of Banaz Mahmod
The 20-year-old victim was raped and murdered in January 2006 in south London and her body was buried under a patio in Birmingham. Banaz Mahmod, 20, was subjected to the two-and-a-half-hour ordeal before she was garrotted with a bootlace, Reuters reported.
Her male relatives had previously tried to kill her, but police failed to take seriously her complaints despite her appearing before them no less than five times, according to the Mail Online.
Banaz’s father, Mahmod Mahmod, and uncle, Ari Mahmod, were sentenced for her killing in 2007, and her three cousins in the years that followed.
Her father and uncle were handed life sentences with a minimum of 20 and 23 years, while her cousins Mohammad Hama, Mohammed Saleh Ali, and Omar Hussain received sentences of 17, 22, and 21 years. Ali and Omar were extradited from Iraq to face the charges, according to BBC News.
Hama, who prosecutors said had been a ringleader in the murder, was caught by listening devices talking to a friend in prison about the murder.
In the recordings, transcripts of which were relayed to the court, Hama and his friend are heard laughing as he described how she was killed with Banaz's uncle "supervising".
"I was kicking and stamping on her neck to get the soul out. I saw her stark naked, only wearing pants or underwear," Hama is recorded as saying.
Bekhal Mahmod, the victim’s sister, was forced to enter witness protection after testifying against her male relatives, the Guardian reported. She recounted how from 6 years old she was beaten for things like touching a male relative’s fingers, looking at a man on the street, plucking her eyebrows, wearing make-up, and shaving her legs.
Bekhal explained that she was subjected to female genital mutilation at age eight by her nearly blind grandmother and later escaped her family home after they tried to force her marriage to a cousin. Following this, she told the Guardian her uncle would threaten to kill her and her sister, and her brother paid someone to attempt to end her life.
While Bekhal escaped her family, she said that her leaving forced their eyes toward her two younger sisters.
“They basically tried to reclaim some honour by marrying them off, because of the shame I had brought by leaving,” Bekhal said. “I do feel guilty.”
Bekhal discovered that Banaz’s new husband would routinely beat and rape her, she said. When her sister tried to seek help from police, Bekhal said that officers dismissed her as “manipulative and melodramatic.”
Only two weeks before her murder, Banaz left a letter with police naming two of her cousins as "ready and willing to do the job of killing me," according to BBC News.
REUTERS contributed to this report.