U.K. Muslim leader decries honor killings

LONDON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The head of the Muslim Parliament in Britain has called on families and community members to help prosecute perpetrators of honor killings.

"I think relatives won't speak out because they're scared ... that's why many of these murders are unresolved," said Ghayasuddin Siddiqui in response to the most recent in a string of high-profile British honor killings, The Independent on Sunday reported.

His comments came on the heels of a coroner's ruling that murder was the cause of death 17-year-old Shafilea Ahmed.

Ahmed -- whose decomposed body was found dumped on a riverbank in South Cumbria in 2004 -- disappeared shortly after she told a government homelessness worker her parents had taken away her savings, beaten her and threatened her with an arranged marriage in their native Pakistan.

An estimated 12 honor killings are committed in Britain each year, the newspaper said.