From: "bobandsally" <bobandsally-AT-zen.co.uk>
Subject: AUT: Fw: Free Zoora Shah Campaign
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 17:03:57 -0000


I received this mailing today.  The details of the case are fairly well
known in Britian, for others there is background information in the text.
Despite the political limitations of the campaign and despite my hesitations
about writing such letters, I intend to send in the specimen letter and
would urge others to consider doing so.
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: FreeZooraShah <FreeZooraShah-AT-ncadc.demon.co.uk>
To: Recipient List Suppressed:; <Recipient List Suppressed:;>
Date: 05 November 1998 13:08
Subject: Free Zoora Shah Campaign


>Free Zoora Shah Campaign
>
>
>Dear Friend,
>
>Free Zoora Shah Campaign
>
>We urgently need your support at this time as we prepare to make
>representations to the Home Secretary to reduce Zoora Shah's excessive
>tariff of 20 years. She is in prison for killing a man who had
>financially, sexually and physically abused her for 12 years
>
>We enclose background material on the campaign, a model letter to Jack
>Straw, the Home Secretary, laying out our arguments for the reduction of
>tariff, and a petition.  A copy of the model letter is also available on
>the internet, . Please send letters supporting Zoora to Jack Straw, using
>the information provided. Please send a copy of your letter to Southall
>Black Sisters or email a copy to RahilaG-AT-msn.com for monitoring purposes.
>
>Please collect as many signatures as possible in support of our campaign
>and forward the petitions to us by end of November 1998.
>
>Zoora and her children have suffered enough.
>
>In solidarity,
>
>SOUTHALL BLACK SISTERS
>
>
> Update Update Update Update Update Update Update Update
> Update Update Update Update Update Update Update Update
>
>The Court of Appeal dismisses Zoora Shah's case
>
>On 30th April 1998, Zoora Shah lost her appeal to overturn her conviction
>for the murder and
> attempted murder of Mohammed Azam on the grounds of diminished
>responsibility.
>
>Zoora's testimony - given for the first time - was dismissed as being 'not
>capable of belief', mainly because the Court decided that she was still
>lying just because she had originally lied to the police. In effect, she is
>now serving a life sentence for lying rather than for her culpability for
>murder.
>
>The Court ignored substantial independent evidence from her GPs, hospitals
>and lay witnesses showing that she was depressed and in a state of severe
>anxiety throughout her relationship with Azam and at the time of the
>killing. The Court rejected the evidence of a number of psychiatrists who
>had concluded that Zoora had been depressed over a number of years and was
>suffering from diminished responsibility at the material time. They
>rejected the testimony of an expert in transcultural psychiatry, who
>explained that Zoora's inability to tell the truth at her original trial
>stemmed from her fear of shame and dishonour, and from other cultural
>constraints.  In seeking to justify such wholesale rejection of Zoora's
>case, the Court hinted that all the psychiatrists who concluded that she
>was suffering from diminished responsibility had simply been duped by her
>clever manipulations!
>
>A question of civil liberties: the right to a fair trial?
>
>The Court of Appeal's judgement has profound implications for civil
>liberties. The Court denied Zoora the right to put forward her defence - a
>defence not available to her at trial because she feared for the future
>well being of her daughters, and because she did not understand the nature
>of her own depression. The judgement has far reaching consequences for all
>vulnerable people who are unable to tell their story at the first instance
>because of mental illness, trauma, or fear of reprisals. It suggests that
>if you do not put forward one of the defences to murder at trial, you can
>never raise such a defence again unless there are exceptional
>circumstances. There is no indication as to what constitutes 'exceptional
>circumstances', but it seems to restrict the term to the narrow condition
>of severe mental illness.
>
>In seeking to develop a 'one trial' principle, the Court denied Zoora the
>right to any trial, let alone a fair trial, and usurped the function of the
>jury, since no jury has been allowed to hear the evidence first presented
>at her appeal: her own testimony and contemporaneous medical records.
>
>Racism and sexism
>The judicial reasoning of the Court of Appeal was deeply flawed in this
>case and lacking any compassion. The judgement is littered with
>ill-conceived and prejudicial misconceptions about women's experiences and
>responses to violence or abuse and the cultural contexts in which this is
>experienced.  It rides on sweeping assumptions about the codes of shame and
>dishonour - key constraining mechanisms which bind many Asian women into
>silence and submission - bordering on racist stereoptypes.  No attempt is
>made to recognise how these complex notions affect all Asian women,
>particularly those who are 'discarded' by their husbands and communities,
>and forced to live on the margins of their community through no fault of
>their own.  The Court suggested that Zoora had 'no honour left to salvage'
>because she had been involved in sexual relationships, ignoring the fact
>that it was her status as a divorced, isolated and poverty stricken Asian
>woman which made her vulnerable to sexual and financial exploitation by a
>series of predatory men.
>
>In essence, the Court - and therefore the criminal justice system - has
>discriminated against Zoora because she does not fit the category of the
>'fragrant housewife' and is therefore deemed to be undeserving of justice.
>
>The case of Shahir Hussain
>The Courts have been rather more willing to accept cultural and religious
>factors when used by Asian men to excuse the killings of wives and
>daughters, on the basis that 'their' wives/daughter's behaviour trangresses
>cultural norms, even when such men hold the balance of power in the family
>and community.
>
>Witness the recent case of Shahir Hussain - an Asian man from Bradford -
>whose murder conviction for deliberately mowing down his sister-in-law was
>quashed by the Court of Appeal. Subsequently, at his re-trial on 27th July
>1998, a plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of provocation was
>accepted by the prosecution. He argued at his re-trial that his
>sister-in-law had brought shame on the family by having an affair outside
>of marriage, that his family had been distressed by her behaviour, and that
>his religion and culture meant that any sentence in custody would be harsh.
>Compare the sentence of six and a half years which he received - making him
>eligible for parole next year - to the tariff of 20 years imposed upon
>Zoora Shah!
>
>Miscarriage of justice
>Ultimately, the criminal justice system in this country will have no option
>but to address the predicament of women in Zoora's position and the
>difficulties they face in obtaining  justice.  Defences such as diminished
>responsibility and provocation have to be as accessible to such women as
>they are consistently in favour of men if the suspicion of gender
>discrimination is to be dispelled. The bottom line is that Zoora, and women
>like her, should not be punished twice - first by their oppressors and then
>by the law.
>Zoora Shah urgently needs your help to end the injustice she has faced at
>the hands of her family, the community and now the law :
>
>SBS is currently working with Zoora's lawyers to explore avenues to secure
>justice for Zoora Shah, including:
>
>™  representations to the Home Secretary on the matter of her tariff - 20
>years - which is excessive by all accounts in the light of her background.
>
>™  fresh evidence to bring her case back to the Court of Appeal.
>
>™  submissions to the European Court of Human Rights.
>
>You can help in the following ways
>
>™  Make a donation. The legal and campaigning work, currently undertaken
>without any funds, urgently requires contributions. Some of the campaign
>funds are also used to enable Zoora Shah's children to visit her in prison
>on a regular basis.
>
>™  Write to the Home Secretary urging him to reduce her tariff and secure
>her release. (See model letter enclosed - please send a copy to SBS, and
>please use your letterhead if you are writing on behalf of your
>organisation.)
>
>™  Sign the petition which we hope to present to the Home Secretary in
>November with her legal representations on her tariff  (Please return all
>petitions to SBS by the end of November.)
>
>™  Affiliate to the campaign to free Zoora.
>
>™  Raise the issue with your MP, pass resolutions of support in your groups
>or organisations, and encourage others to support the campaign.
>
>AFFILIATED ORGANISATIONS
>
>_Aberystwyth Women's Aid
>_Ajani Centre for Women and Girls, Leicester
>_Asian Women's Monitoring Group, Bradford
>_Asian Women's Resource Centre
>_ASHIANA - Asian Women's Refuge,Sheffield
>_ASHIANA  Project, London
>_ASSRA Project - Refuge, Brighouse
>_Bazm-E-Urdu - Bradford Literature Project
>_BECTU
>_Birmingham Tribunal Unit
>_Bradford Racial Equality Council
>_Brent Asian Women's Refuge
>_Calderdale Women's Aid, Halifax
>_Chin,Bradford
>_Daniel & Harris, Solicitors
>_Fire Brigades Union
>_Firth Part Advice Centre
>_Glasgow Working Group on Women, Religion and Violence
>_Hackney Women's Aid
>_Harrow Women's Centre
>_Independent Immigration Support Agency, Birmingham
>_Indian Workers Association, Bradford
>_Inquest
>_Irish Women's Centre
>_Jewish Women's Aid
>_Justice for Women,  London
>_Justice for Women, Manchester
>_Justice for Women,West Yorkshire
>_Keighley Domestic Violence Forum
>_Keighley Women's Aid
>_Kirklees Asian and Black Women's Refuge
>_Kirklees Rape Crisis and Black Women's Project
>_Lancashire Council of Mosques
>_Leeds Women's Aid
>_Liberty
>_Manningham Housing Association, Bradford
>_Muslim Parliament
>_Muslim Welfare Health Centre
>_National Association of Probation Officers
>_Newham Asian Women's Project
>_Newham Monitoring Project
>_Northern Complainant Aid Fund, Bradford
>_Oxford City Council - Women's Sub-committee
>_Saheli Refuge, Manchester
>_Sheffield ABC
>_Sheffield Domestic Violence Forum
>_Shipley Women's Aid, Bradford
>_Tower Hamlets Domestic Violence Forum
>_University of Essex
>_Women Against Fundamentalism, orth
>_Women and Health
>_Women in Scotland and Europe
>_Women's Support Project, Glasgow
>
>  Affiliated Individuals
>
>Diane Abbott, MP
>Anabel
>Jacqueline Bech
>A. Benson
>Rahim Kaur Binjie
>K. Butson
>Sharon Charikar
>Anne Cryer MP, Keighley
>Lord Desai
>Dr. Susan Edwards
>Harry Fletcher
>M. Fox
>Sarah Horn
>Shabir Hussain
>A.K. Gill
>Shirley Ginever
>Celia Jenkins
>Mahmoud El Kurdi, Imam
>P. Leith
>Lanis Levy
>E.A. Llewellyn
>Jaqui Long
>Fay Marshall
>Sonya Mayor
>M. MacAlpine
>Frances McNeil
>Caroline Natzler
>Hailey V. North
>Mahine Rizvi
>Rosie Robinson
>Terence Rooney MP, Bradford North
>Asima Shaikh
>Marsha Singh MP, Bradford West
>Gerry Sutcliffe MP, Bradford South
>Meera Syal
>Ruth Teddern
>Mona Vadher
>Sara Wajid
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>Model Letter:
>
>The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
>Home Secretary
>Queen Anne's Gate
>London.
>SW1H 9AT
>Fax: 0171 273 3965
>
>Date:
>
>Dear Jack Straw
>
>Re: The case of Zoora Shah
>
>I/We are writing to voice our grave concern about the controversial Court
>of Appeal judgement of 30 April 1998 which upheld Zoora Shah's conviction
>for the murder of Mohammed Azam, and the decision of your predecessor to
>impose a tariff of 20 years. We request that you look into this case as a
>matter of utmost urgency for the purposes of reviewing her excessive tariff
>of twenty years and indeed her continuing imprisonment.
>
>l/We understand that Zoora Shah was forced into a life of dependency by
>Mohammed Azam who befriended her when she was deserted by her husband and
>let's in a destitute state Although Zoora made the mortgage repayments on
>the house in which she and her children lived, Azam used the fact that it
>was technically in his name to trap her in a sexually and financially
>exploitative and, at times, violent relationship. Azam was subsequently
>convicted for ten years for dealing in heroin.
>
>After 12 years of degradation, Zoora killed him in a moment of utter
>desperation. Zoora was tried and convicted at Leeds Crown Court in December
>1993. With the help of Southall Black Sisters and a new legal team Zoora
>Shah appealed against her conviction by presenting new evidence - her
>entire medical history and her own testimony which had never been heard
>before.
>
>On the basis of the new evidence, some psychiatrists at the Court of Appeal
>concluded that Zoora was suffering from depression, whilst others went
>further in concluding that she was suffering from diminished responsibility
>when she committed the offences.
>
>The Court of Appeal judgement has displayed a deep ignorance of women's
>responses to domestic/sexual violence and racist indifference to a number
>of significant cultural constraints. The judgement also suggests that if
>you do not put forward one of the defences to murder at trial, you cannot
>do so later unless there are exceptional circumstances which appear to be
>defined narrowly as severe mental illness. This has profound civil
>liberties implications for a wide category of vulnerable people who may not
>be able to tell their full story at trial, amounting to the denial of their
>right to a fair trial.
>
>We believe that the Appeal court usurped the function of a jury by
>dismissing her testimony as being 'not capable of belief'. The recent,
>public declaration by the jury foreman from Zoora's original trial that the
>evidence presented at appeal casts doubt on their original verdict
>vindicates that view. (The Guardian, 30 September 1998)
>
>Defences such as diminished responsibility and provocation have to be as
>accessible to such women as they are to men if the suspicion of gender
>discrimination is to be dispelled.
>
>Zoora Shah's case highlights the difficulties faced by Asian women in
>speaking out about the sexual abuse and domestic violence that they have
>suffered. They have little or no idea as to how to access the 'appropriate'
>support services, often speak no English, are constrained by notions of
>shame and honour and do not have the support of their families. It was only
>after Zoora Shah was given support and counselling by Southall Black
>Sisters that she eventually gave what appears to be a full and frank
>account of her circumstances.
>
>We understand that significant sections of the Muslim religious leadership,
>such as the Lancashire Council of Mosques and the Muslim Parliament are now
>supporting her case, although it was the lack of support from the Bradford
>religious establishment and community that compounded the isolation faced
>by Zoora in the first place.
>
>In my/our view, Zoora Shah's case represents a gross miscarriage of
>justice. It appears that she knew no life other than one of grinding
>poverty and relentless sexual violence. Zoora Shah was a loving and
>committed mother. She had no previous convictions. She looked after many
>disabled children whose families have stated that she was a hard working
>and irreplaceable carer. This is not a dangerous killer who poses a threat
>or danger to the public. Zoora's experiences deserves understanding and
>compassion.
>
>The Court's decision punishes not only Zoora but also her children whose
>lives have been devastated by her continuing imprisonment. They have had to
>cut short their education in order to financially maintain themselves.
>Zoora Shah's eldest daughter has in effect been denied her youth as she has
>had to take on the role of being both mother and father to the youngest two
>children.
>
>In my/our view there are no valid arguments for Zoora's continuing
>incarceration. It does not serve the public interest to keep her in jail.
>She and her children have been punished twice over once by their community
>and now by the law. I/We demand that you address the wrong perpetrated by
>the legal system on Zoora Shah.
>
>I/We look forward to your response.
>
>Yours sincerely,
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>affiliation form
>
>I/We wish to affiliate to the
>campaign.  Free Zoora Shah Campaign
>
>I/We wish to make donations of
>
>
>Name:
>
>Organisation
>
>
>Address
>
>
>
>Tel.  No:
>
>return to:
>Free Zoora Shah Campaign
>c/o  SOUTHALL BLACK SISTERS
>52 Norwood Road, Southall
>Middx UB2 4DW
>Tel:  0181 571 9595
>Fax: 0181 574 6781
>E-mail FreeZooraShah-AT-ncadc.demon.co.uk
>
>Full background to the case can be found at:
>http://www.ncadc.demon.co.uk/news9hts/zoora.html
>
>
>
>
>
>



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