MP: ‘My mum killed the man who abused her – but we’d see her as a victim today’
MP: ‘My mum killed the man who abused her – but we’d see her as a victim today’
Labour MP Naz Shah shared her mother’s story with Sky News, detailing how abuse led to a tragic outcome. She emphasized the need to challenge the South Asian notion of ‘izzat’, or honor, akin to how Gisèle Pelicot advocated for survivors of sexual assault.
From Memoir to Public Conversation
Ms Shah discussed her reflections in her memoir, Honoured: Survival, Strength And My Path to Politics, during an interview with Sarah-Jane Mee on UK Tonight. The narrative explores the systemic pressures faced by women in domestic abuse situations.
“My earliest recollection was of my father striking my mother,” she explained. “When I was six, her husband fled with a neighbor, leaving Zoora to endure further mistreatment from a man she called ‘uncle’.”
Ms Shah described how her mother, Zoora, was exploited sexually by Azam, who initially appeared as a supportive figure. He helped her secure housing, but over time, the abuse escalated, affecting not only Zoora but also her children.
“Imagine a woman in her early 20s, mother to three young children, struggling with language barriers and living in poverty. She’s isolated, vulnerable, and exploited,” she said. “That’s the reality we now recognize, but it was once dismissed as a personal failing.”
Zoora’s act of killing Azam with arsenic was a response to over a decade of abuse and fear of her children’s safety. Though she was convicted of murder, Ms Shah argued the sentence reflected a failure to understand her mother’s desperation.
“She received a 20-year prison term because society viewed her as a woman who sacrificed her home for the sake of her family, not as a survivor fighting for survival,” Shah noted. “The system failed to acknowledge the true context of her actions.”
Ms Shah highlighted the role of the honor system in silencing women, particularly in South Asian communities. She recalled how the jury foreman expressed doubt about the verdict after learning her mother’s story.
“The idea is that women carry the shame, while men are celebrated for their honor,” she stated. “If we had understood Zoora’s circumstances, the jury might have ruled differently.”
She urged the community to shift blame from victims to perpetrators, mirroring the approach taken by Gisèle Pelicot in France. “Just like Pelicot’s work redefined shame in sexual assault cases, we must reverse the narrative around domestic abuse,” she added.
