Two cousins are jailed for life for the murder of a 21-year-old Muslim bride-to-be. A Muslim man is given a life sentence for murdering his teenage daughter.

Police called it an 'honour' killing. Should this term really be used or is a murder, a murder? By EMMA CLAYTON.

When Abdullah Yones confessed to stabbing his 16-year-old daughter to death he became the first person in Britain to admit murder in an honour killing case.

The Old Bailey heard how Iraqi Kurd Yones, 48, was distressed when his daughter Heshu started a relationship with an 18-year-old Christian boy.

Rafaqat Hussain and Tafarak Hussain were sentenced at Birmiingham Crown Court after killing relative, Sahjda Bibi who was to marry a divorcee and non-blood relative

Addressing Rafaqat, who stabbed the bride 22 times with a kitchen knife, Mr Justice Wakerley said, "You took the life of your young cousin on the threshold of her marriage."

After the trial the family of Sahjda said through a police statement, "The term 'honour killing' has been coined by the media rather than by police or family. The family are quite upset with the term."

Honour killing doesn't take place every day in Britain, but it does happen.

Inspector Martin Baines of Bradford police says this is rare.

"People kill for all sorts of reasons, including cultural issues, but a murder committed as a so-called honour crime is still a murder," he added.

Keighley MP Ann Cryer, in her role as a member of the Council of Europe, the parent body of the Euro-pean Convention on Human Rights, has produced a report on honour killings which questions the mean-ing of the term.

The report says that within the last five years there have been at least 20 known deaths in the UK linked to "crimes of honour". Mrs Cryer says cultural practices and differences cannot be accepted as an excuse.

"The very term 'crime of honour' demonstrates how such crimes can be misrepresented and misunderstood. To link any crime with the concept of 'honour' is a paradox of terms and fundamentally unjust," she said.

"And that is exactly what we are talking about here - crimes. Crimes of the most terrible nature that represent fundamental breaches of human rights, particularly of women. Because they have been allowed to become shrouded and excused by a perverse definition of honour, many of these crimes have gone on un-checked, unreported, unchallenged or without prosecution. The victims and the crime itself are seen to be less important than the maintenance of honour as defined by the perpetrator."

Mrs Cryer says the word 'honour' is used to label crimes "seen by the perpetrator as a reasonable act, in accordance with their accepted values and traditions."

"The common denominator for all such crimes is an attempt, by the perpetrator and their excusers, to explain and excuse a crime against humanity on grounds of cultural norms and traditions which, to be frank, should have no place in the 21st century."

Mrs Cryer says the fear of the crime should also be addressed.

"All too often, I meet young women in my constituency who are being forced to marry a spouse, often from the sub-continent, against their will. They don't want to travel to Pakistan or Bangladesh and marry a man with whom they have nothing in common.

"At the same time, the girls know their parents would be devastated if they knew their true feelings and they fear the repercussions, that they would be ostracised and despised by their family and community.

"Fear will often ensure that the woman will simply go along with the diktats of others."

Mohammed Ajeeb, Britain's first Asian mayor and former Lord Mayor of Bradford, said it was important for Muslim parents to create a supportive environment, so their children grow up without fear of repercussion if their opinions conflict with those of their family.

"When children grow up and are educated in a Western society, particularly if they were born here, of course they will be influenced by Western culture," he said. "Families have to accept that they can't live in total isolation.

"You can't kill someone your daughter is seeing just because they have a different religion. There are other ways and means of dealing with issues like this. Yes, marriage into other faiths is still a difficult issue but parents should bring things like this out in the open, by talking to their children. It's down to effective communication.

"Parents can't force beliefs on their children, they can only advise. Once a child is over 18 they are an adult and make their own decisions.

"Thankfully there are very rare cases here."

Mr Ajeeb said honour killings were "very un-Islamic."

"No sane person would condone honour killings. A murder is a murder, there is never an excuse. Anyone who kills someone should be punished according to the laws of the land."