Pak husband, 3 reatives jailed for 58 years in Birmingham for killing pregnant wife

London, Sep 25: A Pakistani origin Mohammed Tauseef Mumtaz, his parents Zia Ul-Haq and Salma Aslam, both 51, and his brother-in-law Hammand Hassan have been jailed for a total of 58 years after being convicted of murdering Mumtaz's pregnant wife claiming she was possed by "evil spirits". Birmingham Crown Court judge Justice Keith read out the sentence on Monday, reports Daily Mail. According to the prosecution, one of the four convicts, smothered 21-year-old Naila Mumtaz while the others held her down, apparently in an attempt to drive out the ‘jinn' (spirit) from her body. The prosecution said, Naila's murder appeared to have been instigated by Mumtaz's parents. The four were convicted in July following a three-month trial after a jury ruled they had deliberately smothered her. The murder took place at the family home in Handsworth Wood, Birmingham. The court heard Mumtaz, who suffers from a genetic condition which has left him deformed, married his bride in an arranged ceremony in Pakistan. This was 14 months before she died while six months pregnant with their first child. In the early hours of a July 2009 morning, Mumtaz, who spoke no English, had sounded ‘stressed' when she called her parents to tell them her husband – and others in their neighbourhood – had been suggesting she may have become pregnant during a solo trip to Pakistan. But the judge said a ‘less unlikely explanation for what happened' was that the defendants believed Naila had been possessed by a jinn (spirit) ‘and that they deliberately smothered her in order to get rid of the jinn'. The judge added: ‘That's not an easy thing for those of us in the West to understand, but the evidence (from the trial) was that a belief in jinns is widespread in the community in which they lived.' During the trial, the prosecutor said family members had told police a person had been present at the house praying ‘to get the spirit out of her'. Mumtaz claimed his wife had ‘suffocated herself by putting her hand in her mouth and she tried to strangle herself' and that his parents and Hassan, 24, who all lived at the house, were trying to hold Mrs Mumtaz down to stop her from harming herself. Ambulance staff discovered Mumtaz unconscious in a bedroom with bruising to her arms and face. She died shortly after being taken to hospital at around 4.30am. Mumtaz suffered from Klippel-Feil Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which means the neck is shortened. However, it was alleged his bride had willingly entered into the arranged marriage, despite his deformity. Zia Ul-Haq and Aslam were sentenced to a minimum term of 15 years each. Their son and Hassan, who is married to the couple's daughter, were sentenced to a minimum of 14 years.

Pak husband, 3 reatives jailed for 58 years in Birmingham for killing pregnant wife

London, Sep 25: A Pakistani origin Mohammed Tauseef Mumtaz, his parents Zia Ul-Haq and Salma Aslam, both 51, and his brother-in-law Hammand Hassan have been jailed for a total of 58 years after being convicted

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