Bekhal Mahmod breaks silence on sister Banaz’s 2006 Mitcham murder

Bekhal Mahmod, who has lived under witness protection since testifying against her family, has described the final moments she spent with her sister Banaz before her murder in Mitcham in 2006. Banaz, 20, was killed in the family home on 24 January that year after leaving an abusive arranged marriage. Her father and uncle were convicted of ordering the killing.

The murder was carried out by Mohamad Hama, who was paid to attack Banaz. According to court evidence, she endured two-and-a-half hours of torture before being strangled with a bootlace. Her body was placed in a suitcase and driven to Birmingham, where it was buried in an abandoned house. It remained undiscovered for three months.

A life in hiding

Bekhal, who also grew up in Iraq before moving to the UK at 14, told Zara McDermott on the *Truth Be Told* podcast that she had been subjected to female genital mutilation at the age of eight. She recalled the last time she saw Banaz, describing her as visibly distressed. "Her face was drawn in. You could see her cheekbones sticking out. Her eye sockets were sunk in," she said.

Banaz’s boyfriend, Rahmet Sulemani, reported her missing after her family failed to do so. He later took his own life in 2016. Police arrested Banaz’s father, Mahmod Babakir Mahmod, and uncle, Ari Agha Mahmod, in 2006. Both were sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007, with minimum terms of 20 and 23 years respectively. Two cousins, Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain, were also convicted and received minimum terms of 21 and 22 years.

Campaign for legal change

Bekhal is now campaigning for ‘Banaz’s Law’, which would make ‘honour’ abuse a statutory aggravating factor in sentencing. She told McDermott that she feels her sister’s killers should never be released. "I wish they wouldn’t see a day of light outside the prison again," she said. "I feel like I’m in a prison. I’m left with the grief I feel for my sister."

Life in witness protection has been isolating. Bekhal said she avoids public spaces where she might hear her native language spoken. "I look at people walking down the street, two, three generations together, and I envy that. I don’t have that," she said. "It’s not easy."

What happens next

Bekhal’s campaign for ‘Banaz’s Law’ is ongoing. No formal legislative proposal has been tabled in Parliament. If introduced, the law would require courts to treat ‘honour’-based abuse as an aggravating factor when sentencing offenders, potentially increasing prison terms for those convicted of such crimes.