Pakistani businessman faces life sentence for murdering sister

London, June 17, (UNI) A Pakistani businessman is facing a life sentence for stabbing his sister to death in front of his two young daughters in a so-called honour killing.

According to sources, Azhar Nazir, 30, and his cousin, 17, used four knives to cut Samaira Nazir's throat and repeatedly stabbed her after she fell in love with an asylum-seeker from what they saw as an unsuitable caste. The victim, 25, had rejected suitors lined up to meet her in Pakistan and had been summoned to the family home in Southall, Middlesex.

The father, also called Azhar, Nazir and her brother launched the attack and at one point dragged her by her hair back into the property.

Nazir was found guilty of murdering his sister a day after his cousin, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted for his part in the murder. They were remanded to custody and will be sentenced at the Old Bailey in London next month.

The court was told that the 17-year-old believed that Miss Nazir had become a victim of black magic at the hands of Mr Mohammad, an Afghan asylum-seeker. the accused denied murder but told police that his sister ''had to be stopped.'' The father was also charged with the murder but fled to Pakistan, where he has gone into hiding. Charges against the mother were later dropped.

According to the sources, in April last, Miss Nazir was summoned to the home to be killed to protect the family's honour. As she screamed for help one neighbour banged on the front door, but the father emerged claiming that his daughter was having a fit. When police arrived they found a trail of blood from the front of the house to the back door and then to the hallway where Miss Nazir's body was slumped in a pool of blood.

The amount of blood on the children suggested that they were only a feet away from the attack. A neighbour spotted Miss Nazir's bloodstained arm emerge momentarily from the front door before she was dragged back inside and the door slammed shut.

The victim received 18 stab wounds and three cuts to her throat.

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