A New York City taxi driver was found guilty Thursday of arranging for two “honor killings” in Pakistan after several people helped his daughter escape an arranged marriage against his will.
Mohammad Ajmal Choudhry arranged for the murder of the father and sister of a man who had helped his daughter, Amina Ajmal, escape a marriage that he had organized, a New York CBS affiliate reported.
In recorded phone calls played during the trial, Choudhry told his daughter that in their culture, sons were free to come and go, but “when a daughter runs away, parents are demeaned forever,” the station reported.
“If you don’t come back, there is only death,” he said.
Ajmal said during her emotional testimony that after growing up in Brooklyn, her father tricked her into visiting Pakistan so she could marry one of her cousins.
“He told me I was too Americanized, and I needed to learn my culture,” she told the jury.
Ajmal married the cousin in 2012 but fell in love with another man, who helped her flee to the United States early last year.
The father and sister of the man were gunned down in Pakistan.
When asked by his daughter if he was responsible for their deaths, Choudhry said in a recorded conversation that another person “killed this time and made me part of it,” the CBS affiliate reported.
He also repeated the threat that he would “not leave a single member of their family alive” if she didn’t return home.
A federal jury in Brooklyn deliberated only one hour before finding Choudhry guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, transmitting of threats to injure and visa fraud.
He faces up to life in prison when sentenced.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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