Arash's parents Raheem and Sembro

Raheem Ghorbani-Zarin endured "horrendous" pain after his son was stabbed to death over a relationship deemed unacceptable by his killers.

He said the new project aimed at dealing with the problem of forced marriages was a step in the right direction.

But Mr Ghorbani-Zarin called for swifter action to deal with the issue before honour-related violence takes hold.

His 19-year-old son, Arash, was murdered by members of Manna Begum's family in Rose Hill, Oxford, in November, 2004, after she became pregnant.

The relationship was thought to have brought shame on the family. And three members of her family - her father and two brothers - were involved in the murder.

The young couple were both Muslims, but the relationship went against an arranged marriage planned for Miss Begum.

Mr Ghorbani-Zarin said: "The pain is horrendous. There is not an instrument to measure the amount of pain my family has been through. It is not something that comes and goes - it is constant, 24 hours a day until you die.

"The issue needs massive advertisements in places like doctors' surgeries and in schools with phone numbers and addresses for the children to go to. The parents who force their children into marriage should be prosecuted in the first instance - if that had happened in my boy's case he would still be alive.

"Anybody who does this sort of murder, even if they have British passports, should have their family rounded up, their property should be confiscated, and their possessions put in a charity box - and they should be sent back to where they came from.

"If they cannot live like civilised people, like we live here, they should lose their human rights.

"If you send a family back to their home and do a massive advertisement I think you could reduce this problem by 70 or 80 per cent.

"This is a Christian country and in Christianity they are not bothered if their daughter marries someone they love.

"Mostly it is religion that does this - Muslims do it more and this is everywhere, not just in Oxford.

"The root of the problem is religion.

"If there were organisations in hospitals that could look at the case and deal with it straight away, and prosecute the people who force marriages, my boy would still be with us.

"The longer you leave this, the problem gets worse."

6:36am Saturday 29th March 2008

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