Ad Lib secures 'horrifying' honour killing account by Mahmod and Siddiqui

Ad Lib has signed No Safe Place by Bekhal Mahmod and Dr Hannana Siddiqui, a “horrifying" true account of an honour killing. 

Publisher John Blake obtained world all language rights from the authors Bekhal Mahmod and Dr Hannana Siddiqui. No Safe Place will be published on 7th July 2022 in paperback, audiobook and e-book.  

The publisher wrote: “Bekhal Mahmod, born into a Sunni Muslim family in Iraqi Kurdistan, recalls her early childhood as the happiest days of her life. She felt safe and loved in the arms of her father, Mahmod Babakir Mahmod. But when she turned six, her father began to subject her to horrific beatings and abuse as he enforced his strict, misogynistic rules. A new life in London, where the family sought asylum in 1998, did nothing to change his behaviour. 

"At 15, Bekhal’s worst nightmare came true when her father tried to force her into an arranged marriage with an older cousin in Iraq. Terrified, yet defiant, Bekhal ran away, immediately making herself a target for an ‘honour killing’. In a bid to restore his family’s reputation, Mahmod Babakir Mahmod swiftly married off his two younger daughters, Banaz and Payzee. Banaz, only 17 when forced into marriage, walked out on her husband after two years, saying that he had beaten and raped her. Because of this ‘shame’, and her desire to re-marry an ‘unsuitable’ man, her father decided that Banaz must die.  

"Within weeks, she had vanished.  Her body was finally discovered, stuffed into a suitcase and buried in a garden in Birmingham. Aged just twenty, Banaz had been raped and killed in a plot orchestrated by her father and uncle. Heartbroken and still fearing for her own life, Bekhal bravely faced her father and uncle in court, the first daughter in British legal history to give evidence against family members in an ‘honour killing’ trial. In doing so, she helped to gain justice for her beloved sister Banaz."  

Bekhal now has a new identity after entering the police witness protection programme. She lives in fear of her father’s release from jail and said: "I’ll forever be looking over my shoulder, running from my family.”   

Blake commented: “Bekhal’s story was one that simply had to be told. It is the remarkable account of an extraordinarily brave woman, the first daughter to testify against family members in an ‘honour killing’ trial in the UK, helping to ensure justice for her murdered younger sister, Banaz.”  

Siddiqui added: “It was a true honour to share this book telling Bekhal’s painful and inspiring life story. I am sure that that it will play a vital part in helping countless others to escape abuse, and in bringing closure and justice for victim-survivors and those bereaved by the loss of their loved ones in honour killings and other forms of gender-based violence.”