'Honour killing' appeal refused

Mohammed Arshad was convicted in 2003 of inciting murder

A father who tried to hire a hitman to carry out the "honour killing" of his son-in-law has lost a bid to have his prison term cut.

Mohammed Arshad, 51, was jailed for seven years after being found guilty in 2003 of incitement to murder.

The devout Muslim from Dundee took the action after his daughter married without his permission.

Appeal judges said they were not convinced that the former justice of the peace received an unfair sentence.

A local Islamic group had asked the court to impose community service.

Arshad, a highly respected member of the Muslim community in Dundee, had an appeal against his conviction refused in March this year, but he has continued to challenge the length of the sentence.

He put a price of £1,000 on son-in-law Abdullah Yasin's head shortly after he married his daughter Insha in 2001.

'Previous good character'

Arshad objected to the marriage and had not given his permission for it to go ahead.

However, he was caught after the "hitman" he approached turned out to be a Tayside Police detective.

Arshad argued that his seven-year sentence was excessive and failed to take into account his previous good character and his state of health when he carried out the crime.

A petition submitted to the court by the Tayside Islamic and Cultural Education Society, signed by more than 150 people, claimed Arshad was an honoured member of their community and asked judges to consider allowing him to serve his sentence in the community.

Lawyers claimed Arshad was affected by ongoing depression, which was a "significant factor" in prompting him to act as he did.

'Grave offence'

However, the judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh rejected the arguments, ruling that previous good character and the fact that he was unlikely to repeat the offence were not key mitigating factors.

Lord Macfadyen and Lord Penrose stated in a written judgement: "We find nothing that persuades us that the sentencing judge erred in selecting a period of seven years' imprisonment as the appropriate punishment for the appellant's crimes.

"What is of the greatest significance is that, when circumstances arose in which the appellant felt that his religious and cultural attitudes had been offended, he was prepared on that account to commit the extremely grave offence of incitement to murder.

"We would add that we do not consider it appropriate in the circumstances to accord material weight to the views expressed in the petition which was laid before us."