{"id":11052,"date":"2015-04-07T16:02:56","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T16:02:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tat.reddaisytrading.co.uk\/index.php\/2015\/04\/07\/my-mom-killed-the-man-who-abused-her-bullying-doesnt-scare-me\/"},"modified":"2015-04-07T16:02:56","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T16:02:56","slug":"my-mom-killed-the-man-who-abused-her-bullying-doesnt-scare-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2015\/04\/07\/my-mom-killed-the-man-who-abused-her-bullying-doesnt-scare-me\/","title":{"rendered":"My Mom Killed the Man Who Abused Her – Bullying Doesn\u2019t Scare Me"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Poverty, Abuse and a Forced Marriage \u2013 Naz Shah Is Not Your Average Politician<\/h3>\n

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Intimidation and bullying tactics are some of the practices taking place during the election campaign in Bradford West. Leaving dead animals on opponent\u2019s doorsteps is the kind of fear that would terrify most people \u2013 but not Naz Shah. She has been through more ordeals in her lifetime than most people could imagine.<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201cI have no idea what the message they are trying to send or who is doing this. It could be anybody. The 41-year-old will be going up against George Galloway. \u201cI want this to be a clean campaign, but I know it\u2019s not clean,\u201d she says. \u201cI took a phone call from a friend saying they had seen pictures of me in my gym with other women wearing towels around us.<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201cThey are trying to attack my character and make out I am a loose girl. My friend asked, \u2018is it worth it?\u2019 And I just said it has made it far more worth it.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Naz\u2019s harrowing life story, which recently went viral, stems from the overriding culture of izzat \u2013 the Asian code of honour that is instilled from birth and can dominate communities. As a child in the area, Naz says she saw her mother Zoora, 61, beaten by her father.<\/div>\n

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\u00a0\u201cOne of my first memories was running to a neighbour\u2019s house to tell them my daddy was hitting my mummy, can you come and help?\u201d she says.<\/div>\n

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When Naz was six her 31-year-old father ran away with their 16-year-old neighbour, in an instant both families\u2019 izzat was gone. They lived in fear of revenge and one night a burning material was put through their letterbox as they slept, setting fire to their home. No one was hurt. <\/div>\n

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Then Zoora married Mohammed Azam in 1983 and they began an affair after he promised to buy her a house. However, he regularly raped and abused her. \u201cI only knew about the abuse afterwards because my mum protected us from it,\u201d Naz says.<\/div>\n

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\u201cShe was a very marginalised and ostracised woman. It was common knowledge he was coming in and out of the house and that didn\u2019t get her a good reputation because he was married.\u201d To protect her from Azam, Naz was sent to Pakistan at the age of 12. Three years later, she was pushed into marriage when her family threatened to cut all ties with her mother back in Britain.<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey said, \u2018you have to marry him\u2019,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you marry, it will put a man in the house and give you respect and honour.\u201d When she turned 16 her husband came to live with her in Bradford, but she quickly found out he was abusive. She fled Bradford for Watford. However, came back when, in April 1992, Naz\u2019s mother snapped. She poisoned Azam by putting arsenic in a sweet. She says, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about killing him. I don\u2019t think she intended to kill. She was at a point where she actually snapped. She didn\u2019t care whether he lived or died \u2013 that\u2019s very different to premeditated murder.\u201d<\/div>\n

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She was sentenced to 20 years.<\/div>\n

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Naz became a mum to her brother Amrahz, 13, and 11-year-old sister Fozia and had been persuaded to take back her husband to gain some respect and honour within the \u00adcommunity. But the violence was still there. She says, \u201cI finally left him was when he tied me up for two days. My cousin came up from Luton and couldn\u2019t get in the door and was asking where I was, but he wouldn\u2019t give a straight answer.<\/div>\n

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“He broke a chair on my back and he was very, very aggressive. He would put an iron close to my face and threaten me, saying if I can\u2019t have you nobody else can.\u201d<\/div>\n

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He was arrested after threatening to kill her. \u00a0While her mother was in jail, Naz became a disability rights advocate, a Samaritans volunteer and now chairs a mental health charity. <\/div>\n

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She says, \u201cOvernight I became a mum, big sister and friend. I did not know anything. One of the most difficult days was the day my mother was convicted.<\/div>\n

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\u201cMy brother had been up all night reading and praying. It was clear to them that my mum was innocent and I had promised my brother I was bringing my mum home. I walked through the door and he was looking behind me and there was no one there. He said, \u2018Where\u2019s Mum?\u2019 I said she\u2019s not coming home. That was the worst day of my life.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Zoora served 14 years and now helps look after divorced Naz\u2019s three children Leyana, 10, Aydan, seven, and three-year-old Raese, by her second husband.<\/div>\n

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She knows she is in for a tough battle against Respect MP Galloway, who has promised a clean and fair fight for the Bradford West seat he won from Labour in a by-election in 2012 following Marsha Singh\u2019s resignation due to ill health.<\/div>\n

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The much-criticised biraderi \u2013 or clan politics \u2013 system in the city has traditionally delivered block votes to Labour. By standing, Naz has made herself a target to many people, with a range of agendas.<\/div>\n

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But, despite the early intimidation, she allows herself a little chuckle, \u201cWhen you have been through what I have, there is not a lot you can do to me.\u201d<\/div>\n

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Poverty, Abuse and a Forced Marriage \u2013 Naz Shah Is Not Your Average Politician Intimidation and bullying tactics are some of the practices taking place during the election campaign in Bradford West. Leaving dead animals on opponent\u2019s doorsteps is the kind of fear that would terrify most people \u2013 but not Naz Shah. She […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}