On 30th April 1998, Zoora Shah lost her appeal to overturn her conviction for the murder and attempted murder of Mohammed Azam on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Zoora's testimony - given for the first time - was dismissed as being 'not capable of belief', mainly because she had originally lied to the police. In effect, she is now serving a life sentence for lying rather than for culpability for murder.
The Court denied Zoora the right to put forward her defence - a defence not available to her at trial because she feared for the future well being of her daughters, and because she did not understand the nature of her own depression. The judgement suggests that if you do not put forward one of the defences to murder at trial, you can never raise such a defence again unless there are exceptional circumstances. There is no indication as to what constitutes 'exceptional circumstances', but it seems to restrict the term to the narrow condition of severe mental illness.
The Court denied Zoora the right to any trial, let alone a fair trial, and usurped the function of the jury, since no jury has been allowed to hear the evidence first presented at her appeal: her own testimony and contemporaneous medical records.
The Court suggested that Zoora had 'no honour left to salvage' because she had been involved in sexual relationships, ignoring the fact that it was her status as a divorced, isolated and poverty stricken Asian woman which made her vulnerable to sexual and financial exploitation by a series of predatory men.
The Court has discriminated against Zoora because she does not fit the category of the 'fragrant housewife' and is therefore deemed to be undeserving of justice.
The Courts have been rather more willing to accept cultural and religious factors used by Asian men to excuse the killings of wives and daughters, on the basis that 'their' wives/daughter's behaviour trangresses cultural norms, even when such men hold the balance of power in the family and community.
Zoora, and women like her, should not be punished twice - first by their oppressors and then by the law. Zoora Shah urgently needs your help to end the injustice she has faced at the hands of her family, the community and now the law .
For further details contact Free Zoora Shah Campaign, c/o Southall Black Sisters, 52 Norwood Road, Southall, Middx UB2 4DW Tel: 0181 571 9595
Full background to the case can be found at http://www.ncadc.demon.co.uk/news9hts/zoora.html