OXFORD: An Iranian university student in Britain was ambushed and stabbed 46 times to "vindicate the honour" of a Bangladeshi family after he fell in love with their daughter and made her pregnant, a court was told yesterday.

Chomir Ali, a Bangladeshi Muslim living in Oxford, ordered his son, Mohammed Mujibar Rahman, to kill Arash Ghorbani-Zarin for the "shame and dishonour" brought on their family by Ghorbani-Zarin's relationship with his daughter, Manna Begum.

Julian Baughan QC, for the prosecution, told Oxford Crown Court that Mr Ali, a 44-year-old waiter, became "angry" in mid-2003 when his 19-year-old daughter began going out with Ghorbani-Zarin, 19, who was from a Muslim Iranian family.

Mr Baughan told the trial that Miss Begum already had a marriage to someone else arranged for her; but despite her family's disapproval, the lovers continued to see each other.

Mr Ali banned his daughter from contacting her boyfriend, taking her mobile phone from her and forbidding her from leaving the family home. This led her to attempt suicide and run away from home to stay with a friend's aunt, the court was told.

In the week before his murder Ghorbani-Zarin had shown friends a scan of his unborn child, inviting them to his forthcoming wedding. Ghorbani-Zarin, an electronic engineering student at Oxford Brookes University, was described by Mr Baughan as "fun-loving" and "without an enemy in the world".

He was found with 46 stab wounds, mainly to the chest, the trial was told. His head had been tied to the headrest of the car following his death, Mr Baughan said, and he was found by passers-by.

Three days later a man, alleged to be Mr Ali, was spotted stopping his car at nearby allotments and throwing a bag over a hedge. The supermarket carrier bag was found to contain a knife covered in Ghorbani-Zarin's blood and clothes that DNA tests showed were worn by Mr Ali's son.

"The relationship brought shame and dishonour on the family that drove the accused to murder Mr Ghorbani-Zarin to vindicate the family's honour," Mr Baughan said.

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