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Heathrow Airport Remembers 'Honour'
Killing Victim
WSN Network
LONDON: The
vicious murder of a Heathrow worker ten years ago, was the focus of
a special memorial at Heathrow Airport on Sunday 14th December.
Surjit Athwal,
an employee of HM Customs and Excise, was killed for 'honour' in
December 1998.1 This dramatic British-India murder was planned from
west London and carried out 5,000 miles away in Punjab upon
instructions from figures in the UK.
Surjit's
represents the first ever case of murder abroad being tried and
convicted under
UK law.
Surjit's 17-year
old daughter, Pavanpreet, led the memorial to her English born
Punjabi mother. Following nine years of misinformation and
concealment about the murder, she spoke about her new understanding
about her mother's death. She was joined by speakers from the
Metropolitan Police, Surjit's brother Jagdeesh Singh and friends and
supporters.
Jagdeesh Singh
said "Surjit's case encapsulates the story of many unrecognised
Surjit's out there in
England
and the UK." Many young females in Punjabi, Kashmiri, South Asian,
Arab and other communities are caught in miserable marriages which
imprison them with inflexible notions of 'family honour'.
Surjit's
British-India murder has been described as an 'outsourced murder'.
It highlights an unrecognised problem of organised murders abroad of
UK
residents. Young UK citizens from 'honour' based communities, are
taken to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Arabia, Persia with the
deliberate intention of murder. Jagdeesh Singh says: "Thousands of
miles away, there are few questions, and zero police
investigation."
Surjit's family
have commended DCI Clive Driscoll and his team of officers in the
Metropolitan Police, for their successful re-investigation of the
case. The family believes the determination and leadership of DCI
Driscoll made a fundamental difference to an otherwise discarded and
dead case. The family has, equally, commended the enormous
courageous of the key prosecution witness, Sarabjeet Kaur, whose
evidence proved critical.
Work continues
on bringing Surjit's hands-on killers in
Punjab to
justice. A legal fund has been established to raise £15,000 to
finance legal action in the Punjab and Haryana High Court Chandigarh.
17
December
2008
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