CAMPAIGNS

Zoora Shah came from Mirpur in rural Pakistan in the 1970s following an arranged marriage. She was befriended by Mohammed Azam, a drug dealer from the criminal underworld of Bradford, when she was totally isolated and destitute. Her husband, who had subjected her to violence, abandoned her and her young children while she was pregnant with her third child.

Azam used Zoora for sex as and when he pleased including in a cemetery where she had buried two other children who had died at childbirth. Azam possessed firearms and threatened to use his contacts in the criminal world to find her if she tried to run away. He also often threatened to throw her and her children onto the streets. When Azam was convicted of dealing in heroin and sent to prison for ten years, he tried to pimp Zoora to male inmates on the point of release. Her house had become a prison for her and she could not free herself from Azam's control over her.

Zoora's GP and social services records show that she suffered from depression and illness throughout her married life and relationship with Azam. She had countless abortions, viral and kidney infections and suffered from anaemia and malnutrition. In the last phase of her relationship, Zoora could not tolerate Azam's sexual demands on her. But the final straw came when she feared that Azam had sexual designs on her daughters. Zoora administered arsenic, bought in Pakistan. She did not care whether he lived or died. Zoora was charged with a number of offences including murder. She refused to give evidence out of fear and shame. She chose to remain silent in the hope of saving the honour of her daughters. Zoora was found guilty on all counts and given a life sentence with a tariff of twenty years.

We helped Zoora prepare her case for appeal on the basis of fresh evidence which was her own testimony which had not been heard before and medical evidence supporting her claim that she was suffering from diminished responsibility at the time of the fatal act. The appeal was heard in 1998. She lost her appeal partly because the judges deemed her story of surviving by her wits in an all-male, criminal world in absolute poverty to be 'incapable of belief.'

Following recommendations made by Lord Chief Justice Bingham in 2000, the Home Secretary reset Zoora Shah's tariff at twelve years. We had hoped for her imminent release after eight years in prison. The reduction in tariff nevertheless represented a major achievement in the circumstances. In July 2004, when her 12 year sentence comes to an end, Zoora will appear before the parole board which will decide whether she is ready to be released.

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