Honour: The harrowing true story behind the Netflix series

The show is based around the real-life murder of Banaz Mahmod, who was ordered to be killed by her own family

5 months ago

Honour, the two-part series on Netflix following an upsetting true story of an honour killing, has had an overwhelmingly popular reception: Teary-eyed viewers have kept the show high on the Netflix top 10.

The drama first aired in 2020 on ITV and follows the real chain of events leading up to the death of Banaz Mahmod, a 20 year-old Iraqi-Kurdish woman from a Sunni Muslim family living in South London, in 2006.

Via Netflix

What is the true story behind Banaz Mahmod’s death?

Banaz Mahmod (played in Honour by Buket Komur) was brutally murdered in 2006 in an honour killing on the orders of her father and uncle, after she left her arranged and unhappy marriage to her cousin. Banaz wanted to be with another man of her own choosing, but the decision would have brought shame upon her family.

In October 2005, Banaz told the police that she believed was being followed by Kurdish men. Without Banaz realising, she had been spotted kissing Rahmat outside a London tube station which lead to multiple attempts to kill her. On the second attempt, she was murdered.

Banaz’s boyfriend, Rahmat Sulemani (played by Moe Bar-El), reported her as missing on 25th January 2006. When the police began an investigation, they discovered that Banaz had previously gone to the police multiple times, and even provided officers with the names of the men who she believed were suspects. However, none of her allegations weren’t treated seriously at the time.

Rahmat, who testified for the prosecution in Banaz’s murder trials, sadly died by suicide in 2016, a decade after her death.

Via Netflix

What about Bekhal?

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Bekhal is the sister of Banaz, who ran away from home in 1999, six years before the events of the show and a year after moving to London. She told MyLondon in 2022: “Back home we were sent to a girls school and allowed to have female friends and not male friends – but here I wasn’t allowed to have any friends from different cultures.”

She continued to explain that she left home due to suffering from honour-based violence in her family home. She describes the day she left: “I unlocked the door and called the police, my parents tried to stop me from leaving but this time I left with the police. But me leaving probably made things worse for my sister.”

Bekhal made two attempts to escape, and on the second try she did not return home.

Via Netflix

What did Bekhal think of the TV series, and where is she now?

Gwyneth Hughes, who spoke to Bekhal Mahmod for Honour, told Radiotimes.com: “I’m unable to meet [Bekhal], she’s in witness protection… She can call me.”

Gwyneth added: “I always know it’s her, because it says No Caller ID.”

She continued to say that Bekhal found the show very moving: “She watched last night and I’m very, very pleased to say that she thought it was great and she “cried a lot.””

“She’s the most fantastic young woman, honestly, you’d be so proud to have any of these young women as your daughter.” She also mentioned that Bekhal is still in witness protection.

Since the release of the series, Bekhal has released a book, No Safe Place: Murdered by Our Father, which is a memoir detailing her abusive childhood and the events surrounding her sister’s death.