Naz

A portrait of campaigner Naz Shah, daughter of convicted murderer Zoora Shah, and her fight to get her mother released

A moving and candid documentary about Naz Shah and her family's struggle to stay together against the odds, surviving a history of honour based violence. Bradford native Naz (Labour MP for Bradford since 2015) spent twelve years campaigning for the release of her mother, Zoora Shah. Zoora was jailed for life in 1993 for murdering a man who raped, beat and abused her for over a decade.

Filmed at the age of 26, 8 years after the conviction, Naz appeals to Home Secretary Jack Straw to overturn Zoora’s sentence on grounds of the violence she silently suffered due to the strict honour and shame codes prevalent in the local community. Following the conviction, Naz worked with Southall Black Sisters to tirelessly campaign for her mother’s freedom. Regularly in the headlines, she gained support for the campaign from prominent celebrities such as Sanjeev Bhaskar. Straw eventually reduced the sentence to 12 years on the grounds of 'mitigating and aggravating circumstances'.