THE young victim of an honour killing will be remembered later this month in a vigil held in Warrington, two decades on from her tragic death.

Great Sankey teen, Shafilea Ahmed, was brutally murdered by her parents on September 11, 2003.

She was suffocated to death in the lounge of her family home after she had refused to be forced into an arranged marriage and her parents believed she had become too ‘westernised’.

Her body discovered in the Lake District five months later.

In 2012, her mother and father, Farzana and Iftikhar Ahmed, were convicted of her murder, and each jailed for a minimum of 25 years.

The Day of Memory is now held each year on July 14 - Shafilea’s birthday - and is intended to remember those lost to ‘honour’ killings.

It also aims to raise awareness of often ‘hidden’ culturally specific forms of abuse and other harmful practices, including female genital mutilation (FGM), forced/child marriage, virginity testing, breast ironing and conversion practices.

A conference will take place at Warrington Town Hall at 10am on the day and will be hosted by Police and Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, John Dwyer.

The panel of esteemed guests attending the conference will be discussing the issues of harmful practices, the challenges faced by professionals working with those at risk and the work being done to end these practices.

A short vigil will follow, and ribbon-tying ceremony will take place at the Golden Gates, with drumming and poetry performances, before a minute’s silence will be held in memory of Shafilea and all those lost in the name of ‘honour’.

Earlier this year the Commissioner secured more than £321,000 of additional funding to help those at risk of ‘honour’ based abuse (HBA) in Cheshire, enabling him to enhance his partnership with Savera UK to address and raise awareness of HBA and harmful practices. 

Savera UK’s team will be sharing information with the public after the vigil, alongside Cheshire PCC’s ‘Safer Streets’ team and representatives from the Crown Prosecution Service. 

A speaker at the conference, Afrah Qassim said: “It is 20 years this year since Shafilea’s life was taken from her, simply for wanting to make her own choices in life. There is no ‘honour’ in this behaviour and no excuse for abuse. 

“Although progress has been made over the past two decades, there are an estimated 12 - 15 ‘honour’ killings in the UK each year and tens of thousands more are harmed due to HBA and harmful practice.

“There is still limited public and professional awareness about HBA and harmful practices and how they can affect anyone regardless of ethnicity, background, gender identity or sexuality.

“These abuses are still happening here in the UK, and it is our collective responsibility to stop them.”

John Dwyer, Police & Crime Commissioner for Cheshire, said: “I am really pleased to be working closely with Savera UK to find and support the hidden victims of HBA in Cheshire.

“There is no excuse for abuse, and nobody should be in fear for their life just because they are trying to live their full potential.

“Bringing partners together at this event is a great way to refocus our work to root out and stamp out HBA.

“The best way we can honour Shafilea’s memory is to redouble our efforts to prevent the kind of abuse which she suffered.”