Honor and Tragedy

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Speaker 2 It was a bright, sunny day.

Speaker 2 It didn't seem like anything could possibly go wrong and

Speaker 2 the day was shattered.

Speaker 2 I heard just the sound of an engine speeding up.

Speaker 2 I heard a thud. There was a teenage girl and she was face down in the dirt.
Her shoes had been knocked off.

Speaker 2 And then I saw his car zoom by and he just pulled out of that parking lot.

Speaker 9 Fire department. What's the address?

Speaker 10 I'm standing at 8990 West Peoria Avenue in the parking lot.

Speaker 2 My heart was beating a million miles a minute.

Speaker 2 I just, I remember lots of yelling and screaming.

Speaker 11 Somebody got run over here.

Speaker 3 I hit the ground on my hands and knees.

Speaker 2 She was completely unresponsive. Brushed her hair behind her ear and held her hands.
She was just a normal teenage girl, just beautiful. So I'm trying to talk to her like you're gonna be okay honey.

Speaker 2 It's gonna be okay and I was so afraid that it wasn't going to be.

Speaker 3 Is the vehicle still there that hit her?

Speaker 11 No, it took off. And there's another person that just collapsed.

Speaker 2 The other lady that was hit, she was crying and screaming.

Speaker 12 Within about 20 to 30 minutes, we had a pretty good idea that this was not just a hit and run.

Speaker 12 The younger of the two women was identified as Noor al-Maleki.

Speaker 12 The other woman was identified as Amal Khalath. Amal was able to provide a name of the individual that was actually driving the vehicle.
She recognized him. She says it's Noor al-Maleki's father.

Speaker 12 We learned there had been a long-standing conflict between Noor and Falah and that Falah

Speaker 12 was not happy with the way Noora was living her life.

Speaker 12 And I think she knew that at some point a showdown was going to happen. When he saw Amala Noor, you know, walking across the parking lot, opportunity knocked.

Speaker 12 He opened that door and ran a 4,000-pound vehicle right through it.

Speaker 7 This wasn't a whodune it. It never was.

Speaker 12 The mystery is why, why this this had happened, and what would possess a father to do something like this to his daughter.

Speaker 7 A family's honor.

Speaker 13 Tonight's 48 Hours Mystery.

Speaker 14 When I found out Enor was in an accident, I was so shocked.

Speaker 2 I didn't want to believe it.

Speaker 3 Is this true? Is my friend really hurt? Why would something like this happen to Noor?

Speaker 7 The horrifying news that Noor Amaliki had been run over by her own father

Speaker 7 spread quickly among her friends.

Speaker 16 I didn't believe it at first.

Speaker 17 And when I found out exactly what had happened, it was just really hard, you know, like really heartbreaking.

Speaker 7 The 20-year-old college student was in a coma, fighting for her life.

Speaker 12 You know, Noor's condition was very critical. She suffered multiple vertebrae fractures, an ankle fracture, severe closed head injury, and multiple soft tissue injuries

Speaker 12 from head to toe basically.

Speaker 7 Noor's friend Amal Khalaf had been thrown 27 feet fracturing her pelvis and femur, but miraculously survived. This is a serious crime.

Speaker 12 Two people were severely injured and it was an intentional act. That's a big deal.

Speaker 7 But the man suspected of running them over, Nor's father, had vanished. So on October 20th, 2009, Peoria, Arizona police detective Chris Bowie launched a manhunt.

Speaker 12 When you're moving on a case, you don't have a whole lot of time to reflect. We've got a bad guy that's on the loose.
We need to catch him.

Speaker 7 He also tried to figure out the motive.

Speaker 12 We know that something happened. Was it anger? Was it frustration? Was it greed? Why would a father do this to a daughter?

Speaker 7 Those questions also intrigued journalist and CBS News consultant Abigail Pesta. What kind of girl was she?

Speaker 14 Noor was an all-American teenage girl. She called her friends dude.

Speaker 18 At school, she played tennis on the tennis team.

Speaker 14 She worked on the yearbook.

Speaker 7 Pesta wrote about Noor for Marie Claire magazine.

Speaker 14 Her friends told me her hair was always perfect. She could always be counted on to have a bottle of hairspray handy.

Speaker 7 Like most teens, Noor loved shopping and hanging out with her friends, female and male. She was also passionate about school and dreamed of being a teacher.

Speaker 12 She was somebody that wanted to get an education. She was somebody that wanted to be somebody, to do something with her life.

Speaker 7 Nor was just four when her family fled Iraq and Saddam Hussein. They eventually settled in the Phoenix suburbs, home to a large Arab community.

Speaker 19 She had a foot in two worlds.

Speaker 14 She had one foot in suburban America and one foot in Middle Eastern tradition.

Speaker 7 That's Norn White modeling at a local Middle Eastern event.

Speaker 7 Did she struggle with trying to straddle both of those cultures?

Speaker 20 Absolutely.

Speaker 14 You know, in public she just tried to put on a brave face. She just tried to live her life and enjoy the freedoms that America offered her.
In private, she fought with her father all the time.

Speaker 7 At home, Nora was supposed to obey her parents. It was her job to cook, clean, and help take care of her six younger siblings.

Speaker 19 And if she didn't, she would be beaten.

Speaker 7 Nor told her friend Adi that her father disapproved of everything she did, from the way she dressed to her choice of friends.

Speaker 17 You can't tell your child, you know, today in America, oh, you can't hang out with boys. No, you can't go outside looking like that.
In her home, it was just like tons and tons of rules.

Speaker 7 Nor's father became enraged when he saw a photo of her with some male friends on the internet.

Speaker 17 And he just thought that's a a really bad thing for his daughter to do, for a Muslim daughter to do. And he just thought she was a slut.

Speaker 7 But Chris Bowie calls those photos typical of most teens.

Speaker 12 Nothing salacious, nothing risque, nothing out of the ordinary.

Speaker 12 Young people posing for a photograph.

Speaker 17 When he saw that she was kind of going, you know, her own way, you know,

Speaker 17 they kind of went nuts.

Speaker 7 But the independent Noor refused to be controlled she'd moved in moved out moved in moved out living with different friends no matter where she went her parents would track her down it was almost a constant attempt to get her back in that house sometimes noor stayed here with amal who was also from iraq and an old family friend amal's son marwan says his mother and nor had developed a special relationship they were more than best friends more than a mom to a daughter.

Speaker 21 She really loved Noor.

Speaker 7 In June 2009, after another blowup with her parents, Nor moved in with Amal's family. How did that affect the relationship between your family and hers?

Speaker 21 Well, her dad wasn't happy with it.

Speaker 7 And he became furious when Noor fell in love with Marwan.

Speaker 14 He saw that as just a real smack in the face. Nor,

Speaker 14 in his mind, wasn't supposed to be dating anyone.

Speaker 7 Did she fear for her safety?

Speaker 21 She feared something was really going to happen to her.

Speaker 7 Four months later, Noor was clinging to life, unconscious and unable to breathe on her own.

Speaker 7 But for investigators, there was a break in the case. After a week on the run, Nor's father was captured in England.

Speaker 12 The same day we received the information that he was in London, we recovered the vehicle in Nogales on the Mexican side of the border. So that was a big day for us.

Speaker 7 Fala Amaliki was brought back to the United States and charged with aggravated assault. But everything changed on November 2nd, 2009, when Nor died from her injuries.

Speaker 21 I wish it would have happened to me instead of her.

Speaker 7 Do you think of her?

Speaker 21 All the time.

Speaker 15 I miss her.

Speaker 2 I wish we spent more time together.

Speaker 17 Losing her wasn't just like losing a friend, but

Speaker 17 someone just taken like a huge chunk of your life.

Speaker 17 Because there's so much you wanted to do, and

Speaker 7 she couldn't.

Speaker 7 Six weeks after Nora's death, her father was charged with her murder.

Speaker 7 You believe this was a calculated and premeditated act? I do.

Speaker 7 Not an accident.

Speaker 12 There's no accident. There's no accident.

Speaker 12 He felt like it was his duty to do this, to

Speaker 12 restore his honor, restore his family's honor.

Speaker 12 This isn't an isolated incident as we know now.

Speaker 12 It's happened around the world, and now it's here we have it in the United States.

Speaker 12 This is a really big problem.

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Speaker 12 When you think of a classic crime scene and you think about blood and guns and wealth of evidence at a crime scene,

Speaker 12 this one didn't have it.

Speaker 7 With the death of Nora Maliki, Detective Chris Bowie had a homicide investigation on his hands.

Speaker 12 We're in a parking lot where you have, you know, one tree that's knocked over, you've got some gravel that's disrupted, you've got a critical speed scuff mark on the asphalt.

Speaker 7 This is what we had, and we went from there. Norris' father claimed his daughter's death was an accident, but Bowie was convinced he had enough evidence to prove it was cold-blooded murder.

Speaker 7 For one thing, this tire mark, which we enhance in this crime scene photo. Bowie says it was made when Norris' father aimed his SUV at the women.

Speaker 12 To hit the two victims, the defendant had to have turned his vehicle to the left at speed. There's no other reason why anybody would do that other than to attempt to hit something.

Speaker 7 When mechanics inspected the vehicle, they found...

Speaker 12 There's no problems with the brakes or the accelerator or anything like that.

Speaker 7 In Fatbowie says, tests on the brakes showed Falah could have stopped before barreling into his daughter and Amal at almost 30 miles per hour. So what are we looking at, sir?

Speaker 12 This is the hood of the vehicle that Falah was driving the day of the incident.

Speaker 7 There was damage to the hood.

Speaker 12 There was an impact

Speaker 12 right in this area of the top of the hood.

Speaker 7 And grill.

Speaker 12 This would be the area of impact here and here.

Speaker 7 That match where the vehicle hit the victims.

Speaker 12 Nor would it been directly in front of when the front of the vehicle struck her.

Speaker 7 And when investigators checked the undercarriage, we recovered a human hair.

Speaker 7 It was Noor's. Bowie says the evidence clearly shows what happened that October morning.

Speaker 12 He was hunting that day and he found what he wanted and he took him out.

Speaker 7 Amal and Noor had come to this building to fill out some forms for social services. While they were waiting, Noor's father appeared.

Speaker 12 Nor sees him, texts her friends.

Speaker 7 She wrote, dude, so scary. I'm with my aunt at the welfare place and guess who walks in? My dad.
I'm so shaky.

Speaker 12 Was it coincidental that he happened to be in the same DES building that Noor and Amal were on that day? There's a chance that that was a coincidence.

Speaker 12 He makes a conscious decision to leave, drives away.

Speaker 7 But phone records show he didn't go far.

Speaker 12 I mean, we think he was waiting here.

Speaker 7 When Noor and Amal finished their business, they walked across this parking lot.

Speaker 12 Where those cutouts are positioned is roughly where we believe Amal and Noor were as the vehicle approached.

Speaker 7 Detective Bowie demonstrated for 48 hours what investigators believe happened next.

Speaker 12 He leaves this location, rapidly accelerates, makes a steering input

Speaker 12 into our two victims. Amal was hit roughly in this location and thrown

Speaker 12 approximately 20 feet.

Speaker 12 Falat continued his left-hand turn and aimed the front of the vehicle directly at Noor, who was on the raised median area here.

Speaker 12 The entire vehicle rolled over the top of her and drug her significantly to the south where she finally ended up behind the second tree.

Speaker 12 He didn't stop. He didn't call 911.

Speaker 12 He didn't say, oh my God, it's an accident. He drives off.

Speaker 12 Drives off. Leaves her there for dead.

Speaker 7 Even more shocking than the callousness of the crime is what investigators believe is the motive.

Speaker 12 In certain traditions and certain cultures, If a father believes that a female has acted in a dishonorable or disrespectful way to bring dishonor to the family, to bring dishonor to the community, that the only way to restore that honor is to kill them.

Speaker 7 It's called an honor killing, which Bowie learned is a premeditated murder to preserve family honor.

Speaker 12 Or when we had this case, I said, you know what? I think we have one here.

Speaker 7 But what had Noor done to bring dishonor to her family? Bowie learned one of the things was those internet photos of Noor with male friends.

Speaker 7 Her father was so outraged, he took the then 17-year-old high school senior back to Iraq and forced her to marry a family friend.

Speaker 17 Her mom and dad left her there, and she was there alone. She was really scared.
She was really mad.

Speaker 7 Nor told her friend Adi, Her parents wouldn't let her come home unless she went through with this forced marriage.

Speaker 17 After you get married to him, you have to bring him back here and you have to settle down with him. That was their conditions.
And she said, no, at first. And then she said, okay, you know what?

Speaker 17 She just gave in.

Speaker 7 Adi says she got married. What may be most surprising is Noor's story is not unique.

Speaker 15 It definitely is a reality. There has been a survey that in the States over the past two years, there have been 3,000 cases of forced marriage.
I understand you want to leave.

Speaker 7 Jos Vinder Sangera founded Karma Nirvana in Great Britain

Speaker 7 to help victims of forced marriages and honor-based violence.

Speaker 15 We are dealing with the tip of the iceberg.

Speaker 7 Jazz Vinder says these forced marriages are imposed by parents who want to control their defiant daughters.

Speaker 15 And the word I use, because this is the word the victims use on the helpline, it was designed to rehabilitate me, to get these ideas out my head of wanting to embrace independence and freedom and be westernized.

Speaker 15 Good afternoon, Carmen Nirvana Helpline.

Speaker 7 And if they resist.

Speaker 15 So the honor stakes go up.

Speaker 15 One never knows what a family is capable of.

Speaker 7 When Noor returned to the United States without the husband her parents chose for her, the clashes with her family escalated. Did Fala ever say to Noor, you have brought dishonor to our family?

Speaker 21 Yes, she did.

Speaker 12 Her returning from Iraq and not wanting to be in the arranged marriage was a huge dishonor. The fact that she was now dating Amal's son, Marwan, I think was a big factor.

Speaker 12 And I think just the overall lack of control that he had over a young lady that was trying to make something of herself.

Speaker 7 Just three months before Nora was murdered, her parents showed up at Amal's house looking for their daughter.

Speaker 12 I believe 12:30 or 1 o'clock in the morning, pounding on the door, demanding they open the door, and demanding that Noor

Speaker 12 come with them.

Speaker 7 Police were called. Noor's father was belligerent.

Speaker 12 You can put me in jail for the rest of my life,

Speaker 12 but I'm tired of having my daughter dishonor me by living

Speaker 12 with this family.

Speaker 7 Her parents didn't let up. According to Marwan, just 48 hours before his girlfriend was mowed down, Nora's mother again ordered her home.
And again, Nor refused.

Speaker 21 That's when her mom told, you know what, you have something coming to you in two days.

Speaker 7 Did Nor think she was marked for death? Did she believe that a family member was going to kill her?

Speaker 21 She never directly knew that,

Speaker 21 but she felt something really bad is going to happen.

Speaker 7 Do you believe Nor's mother knew that she would be harmed? Yes.

Speaker 12 I do believe that. Do I have 100% proof? No.

Speaker 7 Nor had nowhere to turn for help. But if she'd been living in England, Justiner Sangara says, she could have found refuge.

Speaker 15 I can tell you with conviction, had Noor come to us, she would be alive today.

Speaker 7 Alive,

Speaker 7 just like Lena.

Speaker 7 She also survived honor violence and knows exactly what Nor went through.

Speaker 18 And my mom held a knife against my throat and said, if you ever leave again, we're going to kill you.

Speaker 12 Noor never had a chance to live her life.

Speaker 12 She never had an opportunity to graduate from college, to get a job, to be married, to have children.

Speaker 12 That's the tragedy here.

Speaker 7 For Detective Chris Bowie, getting justice for Nora Amaliki in what he believes was an honor killing became a personal mission. What was the greatest challenge in investigating this case?

Speaker 12 Wrapping your mind around

Speaker 12 an individual thinks that honor is more important than the love of your child.

Speaker 7 It's an unimaginable concept for most Americans, but some cultures believe that murdering a child to restore family honor is justifiable.

Speaker 7 And Bowie believes that's what Nora's father did when he mowed her down, even acknowledging his motive, Bowie says, in this police interview.

Speaker 11 If your house has got a fire

Speaker 11 and

Speaker 11 like just a part of the house, got a fire,

Speaker 11 So we thought the house burned, or we try to stop the fire.

Speaker 12 You gotta put that small fire out, the rest of the house is gonna burn down. Nor was the small fire.
I think this was a collective decision that was made.

Speaker 7 And him being the

Speaker 12 father and the patriarch of the family, it was up to him to carry it out. And he did.

Speaker 10 Fresh developments in an alleged case of honor killing involving a young journalist.

Speaker 7 Although most common in the Middle East, South Asia, and North Africa, honor violence is increasingly occurring in Europe, Canada, and now the United States.

Speaker 12 If it can happen in Peoria, Arizona, it can happen anywhere. Do I think there's a lot of other nural Malekis out there? Yes, I do.

Speaker 7 And the statistics are startling. According to the United Nations, an estimated 5,000 women worldwide are murdered each year.
in the name of honor.

Speaker 15 I believe there are many more murders that we haven't identified as honor killings out there.

Speaker 7 Although the majority of victims are Muslim, Jazvinder Sangera, author and survivor, insists honor violence is not sanctioned by any religion.

Speaker 15 Nowhere in Islam, Sikhism or Hinduism, in any of the major faiths, does it say this is acceptable. Honor is

Speaker 15 man-made.

Speaker 15 It's an oppressive cultural practice.

Speaker 7 Jazvinder was born in Great Britain, the daughter of Sikhs from India.

Speaker 15 My father came to Britain in 1952 from rural Punjab and he didn't leave his belief and value systems at Heathrow Airport. You know, he brought them with him.

Speaker 7 Growing up, Jazvinder and her siblings learned a code of conduct from their parents.

Speaker 15 You must not talk to boys, you must not wear makeup, you must not cut your hair, you stick to your own. That's what we were taught.

Speaker 15 And if you cross that line, you have dishonored them and then you put yourself at risk.

Speaker 7 Jazz Vinder crossed that line when she was 15. After running away to avoid a forced marriage, her family ostracized her.

Speaker 15 You've shamed us, you've dishonored us. From this day forward, you are now dead in our eyes.

Speaker 15 That decision I made then was for my children in the future. And that for me is the defining point where I think, yes, you did the right thing.

Speaker 7 Jaz Vender survived and flourished but her older sister Robina wasn't so fortunate.

Speaker 15 She suffered horrific domestic violence.

Speaker 7 Jaz Vender says Robina was told she would dishonor the family if she left her abusive husband.

Speaker 15 So in the end my sister committed suicide. She set herself on fire and my family regarded that to be more honorable than for her to leave her husband.

Speaker 15 But if she's been brave enough to tell you that, she's at risk of being married.

Speaker 7 That inspired Jazz Vender to start an organization to help victims of honor violence and a helpline that now receives some 450 calls a month.

Speaker 15 That's a drop in the ocean. There are thousands we have yet to reach.
But it's a start.

Speaker 7 One of those callers was a desperate 17-year-old, now known as Lena.

Speaker 18 I remember I was so scared. I was literally shaking.
My hands were shaking.

Speaker 7 Two years earlier, She had tried to run away. Her dishonored family was furious.

Speaker 18 My My mom, when she held the knife to my throat, she threatened to cut my tongue off. And then she said, oh, if you don't listen to your stepfather, he'll rape you.

Speaker 7 It was after the British-born teen refused to marry an older cousin that she was pulled out of school and held captive by her strict Muslim parents.

Speaker 7 Lena had been locked in her home for nearly two years.

Speaker 15 Her stepfather had gone to the extreme of putting barbed wire all around the back of the house so she couldn't escape.

Speaker 7 Lena says says she was regularly beaten for being too westernized.

Speaker 18 I used to go into the bathroom and put the taps on and cry my eyes out and then because I didn't want anyone to hear me and I used to just look in the mirror and I used to be like how long is this going to carry on for?

Speaker 7 She finally got the courage to end her ordeal after reading about Jasvinder Sangera's helpline but it would take a year to make that call.

Speaker 18 I couldn't handle it anymore and like I would have rather been dead than stay in that house.

Speaker 7 With Jasvender on the phone and a set of keys she found, Lena made her escape.

Speaker 18 I thought, you know, this is my chance. If I don't do it now, then that's it.

Speaker 15 She literally fled out the back door. Petrified, I could hear the fear in her voice, and it was as if I was with her on every single step.

Speaker 18 I was very scared, like you're running for your life, basically.

Speaker 7 Lena would find a safe haven with Jas Vinder's help.

Speaker 7 And a few weeks later,

Speaker 7 the two met.

Speaker 15 And there was this girl walking towards me. She must have been six foot two.

Speaker 15 She had these big high heels on, very tight jeans on, lots of makeup on, her hair was everywhere and it was snowing. And I just looked at her, smiled and I said, why are you wearing those heels?

Speaker 15 And she just looked me direct in the eye and she went, because I can.

Speaker 7 Lena is now an independent 23-year-old.

Speaker 15 She is in control of her life now, but she also knows that her family are capable of doing something to her. The dishonor doesn't go away.

Speaker 7 Back in Phoenix, Chris Bowie is hoping to convince a jury that something as foreign as an honor killing could happen in their backyard.

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Speaker 7 On January 24th, 2011, more than a year after Nora Amaliki's tragic death, testimony in her father's murder trial is about to begin.

Speaker 7 The state has charged the defendant with count one first-degree murder.

Speaker 12 Even if you think you have the biggest slam-dunk case in the history of criminal justice, you never know what's going to happen when you get it in front of a jury.

Speaker 7 The stakes are high not only for Detective Chris Bowie, but for Prosecutor Laura Reckard as well. This will be one of the first cases in the United States prosecuted as an honor killer.

Speaker 8 Nobody can acquire honor by doing what is wrong.

Speaker 7 For the prosecutor, an experienced trial attorney who has taken on tough criminals like ex-mafia hitman Semmi the Bull Gravano, this case was the toughest to understand.

Speaker 8 It's chilling that your own flesh and blood that you would mow down with your own car because it suits your culture.

Speaker 7 It's just cold.

Speaker 7 But the question for the jury isn't whether Falah Amaliki drove the vehicle that ran down his daughter and badly injured Amal Khalaf. They'll have to decide.

Speaker 7 whether it was a premeditated act, an honor killing.

Speaker 8 I want that jury to understand that this father had a motive to kill. This is a case about a man, the defendant, who committed these horrific and oh-so-wrong crimes, all in the name of his

Speaker 8 sense of honor.

Speaker 7 This case... But defense attorney Elizabeth Mullins argues that Falah never intended to harm anyone.

Speaker 19 Abu Noor lost his Noor.

Speaker 15 That was never his intent.

Speaker 7 She claims he merely meant to spit on Amal and scare his daughter, but accidentally hit them both.

Speaker 3 And when he had yanks the wheel, he hits the curb, goes up on the median, and runs over a tree.

Speaker 15 He stops and he looks back.

Speaker 15 Nor.

Speaker 27 Nor.

Speaker 27 Nor my baby is lying there. Nor is in the median.

Speaker 7 He panics.

Speaker 7 Then she says, the law fled.

Speaker 7 And to reinforce their case, another defense attorney, Jeff Kirchler, sets his sights on Detective Bowie, arguing that Falah insisted it was an accident after he was taken into custody.

Speaker 28 He tells you 15 times that it was an accident. And you're trying to get him to tell you, you know, that he did this on purpose.
That it wasn't an accident.

Speaker 12 Isn't that correct? Yeah, I told him I didn't believe it was an accident. He had an opportunity to tell everybody

Speaker 12 why this happened, why he did what he did.

Speaker 7 And then Kirchler strikes at the the heart of the prosecution's theory, claiming Falah had no motive to murder his daughter. In fact, he suggests, it was investigators who planted the notion of honor.

Speaker 28 You ask him, you were trying to restore that honor that was taken away. Is that right?

Speaker 7 Yes.

Speaker 28 You gave him this,

Speaker 28 it was honor, because you knew something about his culture, right?

Speaker 7 Yes.

Speaker 28 He denies that this was the reason that this occurred.

Speaker 7 Right?

Speaker 12 He doesn't come out and say that's the reason why this occurred. No.

Speaker 8 Up to two years prior to this incident, this was a man who was saying that he was being dishonored by his daughter. He'd rather go to jail for the rest of his life than be dishonored by his daughter.

Speaker 7 This was a calculated and premeditated act?

Speaker 8 In our opinion, yes, it was.

Speaker 7 Were you aware of the treasure? Record says the crime scene photos and analysis from crash reconstruction experts show Falah had enough time to break before striking Noor and Amal.

Speaker 8 It's quick, but you make a conscious decision to put your foot on the accelerator. And that's reflection.
And that's premeditation. And that's first-degree murder.

Speaker 7 And to prove Noor had reason to fear her father, prosecutors present the text messages she sent moments before the attack, in which Noor says she was scared.

Speaker 7 And the jury received transcripts of recorded jailhouse phone conversations between Noor's parents after Falah's arrest.

Speaker 8 I think one of the most telling calls was when the defendant's wife says to him, you rushed it.

Speaker 12 At the Maricopa County Lower Buckeye Jail.

Speaker 7 In that call, Norris' father said, I didn't assault someone from the street. I tried to give her a chance.
His wife responds, you rushed it. You rushed it, Falah.

Speaker 8 They were going to take some action, even if that meant killing her.

Speaker 12 He's waiting in the parking lot for 45 to 50 minutes. To me, that shows premeditation.
He could have gone home, but instead he chose to wait until they came out.

Speaker 7 We had a vehicle parked about here. In all, the state calls 22 witnesses to prove their case, including Shanil Nakamoto, who ran to North's side that fateful day.

Speaker 2 We heard an engine revving, and then I saw a car heading towards Peoria Avenue from the DES building.

Speaker 7 But the most crucial witness for the prosecution was the lone survivor who was with Noor when they were both struck by Falah.

Speaker 8 Our next witness is Amal Khalaf.

Speaker 7 You were concerned whether or not Amal was going to show up or not.

Speaker 8 I actually was. At one point I thought I was going to have to proceed without

Speaker 8 a victim.

Speaker 25 Yeah, I saw him when he hit me. I saw the car.
He was driving so fast.

Speaker 7 Amal took the stand at great personal risk, record says, fearing retaliation from an Iraqi community that had now turned their back on her for testifying.

Speaker 7 And she asked the judge to not show her face on the witness stand. Do you fear for your safety for speaking out?

Speaker 27 Of course.

Speaker 3 Fear is always there.

Speaker 7 In fact, to this day, Amal still lives in hiding. In Falah's mind, was this an honor killing?

Speaker 3 Was he proud of it?

Speaker 20 Yes.

Speaker 7 Throughout the trial, Falah's family supported him in court. But as in life, Detective Bowie says, no one stood for Noor.

Speaker 12 There was an underlying fear in everybody that we talked to associated with Noor that if they testified in court, in front of their community,

Speaker 12 they could have some problems.

Speaker 7 Something that still haunts her friend, Adi.

Speaker 17 No one was on her side. No one was there to testify and say that, you know, her dad abused her.
Her dad did this, her dad did that, her parents harassed her. No one was there to say it.

Speaker 17 If I knew firsthand, I would have done it, you know, in a heartbeat.

Speaker 12 We are prepared to go forward with our closing arguments.

Speaker 7 After a month-long trial, the defense rests without calling a single witness.

Speaker 7 And with all eyes on him, Falat chooses not to testify, leaving lawyers to argue about whether he's the victim of circumstance or a killer done in by his own conceit.

Speaker 28 Your job is to figure out exactly what happened that day.

Speaker 7 In closing arguments, the defense reminds the jury that it was an accident, and there's no evidence to prove Falah intended to harm anyone.

Speaker 12 Is this an honor killing?

Speaker 12 I'm not so sure.

Speaker 7 But prosecutor Laura Reckert says otherwise.

Speaker 8 Good fathers protect their children.

Speaker 8 Good fathers don't blame their children.

Speaker 7 Good fathers, especially don't kill their children.

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Speaker 8 I rarely dream about a trial when I'm in it.

Speaker 8 But during the course of this trial, I started to wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares.

Speaker 7 For prosecutor Laura Reckard, those nightmares continued as the jury deliberated Falah Amaliki's fate.

Speaker 8 I was worried.

Speaker 8 I could hear the jurors screaming.

Speaker 7 As one agonizing day turned into two, then three.

Speaker 8 By the fourth day of deliberations, I was feeling sick to my stomach.

Speaker 7 Finally, on February 22nd, 2011, a verdict.

Speaker 13 Linda, would you read and then file the verdict forms?

Speaker 7 For both sides, the tension was unbearable.

Speaker 2 We, the jury, do find the defendant as to count one, first-degree murder, not guilty.

Speaker 7 Not guilty of first-degree murder.

Speaker 12 I was disappointed. Very disappointed.

Speaker 7 Instead, the jury finds Falat guilty. of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, meaning they did not agree the attack on Noor was premeditated or an honor killing.

Speaker 12 You know, the jury didn't agree with us.

Speaker 7 Wasn't happy.

Speaker 12 Still not.

Speaker 7 Never will be. You thought he should have been convicted?

Speaker 12 A first-degree murder.

Speaker 12 That's what he did.

Speaker 12 It was premeditated. He thought about it.
He had ample time to reflect upon

Speaker 12 not doing it and decided to do it anyway.

Speaker 7 For 50-year-old Amaleki, who killed her. Eight weeks later, Falat is back in court for sentencing and for the other victim, Amal.

Speaker 7 The moment is overwhelming, especially for her son, Marwan, Noor's boyfriend, who had to be escorted from the courtroom.

Speaker 7 Throughout his trial, Falah showed little emotion, but when the time came to answer for his actions, he could barely contain himself.

Speaker 7 I wish I was dead and not her.

Speaker 12 I'm very sorry.

Speaker 7 But Judge Roland Steinley is unmoved as he hands down the sentence.

Speaker 13 Apparently your daughter had a lot of qualities. Everybody turned to her

Speaker 13 and she couldn't turn to the one person she needed because her father had closed his heart and decided one day

Speaker 13 death was for her.

Speaker 13 As you sit in your jail cell,

Speaker 13 I hope you come to grips with what you really did.

Speaker 12 Because so far, it's all been about you.

Speaker 13 Just a mean old man killing his child.

Speaker 7 And with that, Falat is sentenced to a total of 34 and a half years in prison for killing Noor and gravely injuring Amal.

Speaker 12 He got off easy, as far as I'm concerned.

Speaker 8 I know it's horrible. Makes us feel like we let Noor down.

Speaker 8 And, you know, that just breaks your heart. And

Speaker 8 this broke my heart.

Speaker 7 Hi, I'm Troy Roberts from 48 Hours. Are you Ali? We tried to talk to Noor's family.
I wanted to know if you had time to speak with me about your sister Noor.

Speaker 7 But they later changed their minds. Don't you think there were still some questions from this trial that haven't been answered?

Speaker 16 Is it going to help anymore?

Speaker 16 Is it going to change anything?

Speaker 16 There's nothing that needs to be said.

Speaker 7 Do you believe this was intentional?

Speaker 7 I'll believe what I believe because I'm part of it.

Speaker 16 You're the outside looking at everybody is.

Speaker 17 You won't understand.

Speaker 7 Why wouldn't I understand? I mean, it's a simple question. Was it intentional or was it an accident?

Speaker 16 Does it matter to you?

Speaker 7 Yeah.

Speaker 7 How?

Speaker 16 So you can make money off of this whole thing?

Speaker 16 It doesn't matter to you, alright? To you, it's just a TV show. To me, this is life.

Speaker 15 It does not surprise me that Americans are surprised this is happening in the States. But I think that will change with awareness.

Speaker 7 The sentence may not have been what the prosecution wanted, but Jasvender Sangera sees hope.

Speaker 15 It's better than some of the sentences I've seen in the UK.

Speaker 7 However, there is more work to be done, she says.

Speaker 15 If you don't deal with this, then it will only get worse for the victim. And believe me, the perpetrators will catch wind of that.

Speaker 7 But Detective Bowie has a message for anyone who thinks they can kill in the name of honor.

Speaker 12 Murder is murder. But I hope it sends a message to anybody that might be thinking about doing this: is that if you do it, we're coming after you.

Speaker 12 I hope that people remember, never forget Nor and what happened to her.

Speaker 12 She had deep conviction for where she came from, where her family came from.

Speaker 12 I think she wanted the best of both worlds.

Speaker 7 Yeah, she's just beautiful eyes.

Speaker 14 If we were ever in a group of people, it was obvious Noor is here.

Speaker 15 Her presence was so strong.

Speaker 17 She's gone physically, but her memory is always going to live on forever.

Speaker 14 She looks absolutely stunning.

Speaker 7 In the end, those closest to Noor choose to remember the friend they had rather than the one they lost.

Speaker 17 When I want to see her, I just look up in the sky. Noor means God's light.
During the daytime, she's in the form of a sun, but at night, she's in the form of a moon.

Speaker 17 And day and night, she's always watching out for me.

Speaker 7 In 2024, Valah Amaliki died while in prison.

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