The mother of a woman murdered by her husband who pushed her off a hill says he was “evil, jealous and insecure”.
Fawziyah Javed, from Leeds, died after she was pushed from Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh by Kashif Anwar in 2021. Fawziyah married Anwar, an optical assistant, in an Islamic ceremony on 25 December 2020.
Fawziyah’s mother said Anwar resented the 31-year-old solicitor being an independent, well-educated young woman.
“He didn’t like the fact that Fawzi had her own voice, her own opinions. He didn’t like that,” she said.
Within three months Anwar beat Fawziyah unconscious in a cemetery and attempted to suffocate her with a pillow. It was also reported that Anwar stole over £12,000 from his wife’s account whilst she slept.
Fawziyah’s mother Yasmin said she had encouraged her daughter to leave Anwar but she said Fawziyah was biding her time and said she knew what she was doing.
In a recording Fawziyah secretly made, her husband told her to stop behaving like a British woman. In the recording Fawziyah is heard saying: “You’ve ruined my life.” Anwar replies, “I’ll tell you one thing. You end this and I will ruin yours.”
His wife then asks, “What’s your problem?” To which Anwar answers, “My problem? Don’t challenge me, do not be that British woman.”
The story reads as a glaring failure of the multicultural experiment. On the one hand is Anwar, a rat of a man who believed that his wife should be subservient to him, and do what he says. This is a common belief in his community and culture.
Ms Javed, on the other hand, was Westernised, evidently subscribed to Western liberal values, and clearly disagreed with Anwar’s views. This clash of values ended with catastrophic consequences.
It is unclear how common these collisions of culture are in minority communities, but it is likely that we will see more cases of internal clashes as more people are drawn in by the trappings of consumerism and liberalism.
Wanting a shiny new phone or designer clothes is one thing but to many submerged in conservative minority cultures, their women and girls becoming “that British woman” is beyond the pale.
