A CITY man was involved in the kidnapping of a woman who was later murdered in an ‘honour killing’ the Old Bailey heard.

Banaz Mahmod was strangled in January 2006 and her body buried in a suitcase in Birmingham.

The 20-year-old had been attacked at her family home in Mitcham, south London, by a group of men at the “instigation” of her father and uncle after falling in love with a man they did not approve of. Her uncle, Ari Mahmod, and father, Mahmod Mahmod, were jailed for life, along with Mohamad Hama, for her murder in 2007.

Mohammed Saleh Ali and Omar Hussain, alleged to be among the killers, fled Britain for Iraq after the murder, Victor Temple, QC, prosecuting, told the court yesterday.

They had both since been extradited and charged with the murder.

Ali and Hussain, both 28, and of no fixed address, deny murdering Miss Mahmod, burying her body, conspiring to kidnap her boyfriend Rahmat Suleimani and threatening to kill him.

Sadar Mahmood, 27, of Messenger Road, Birmingham, is not charged with murder but is being tried for the other offences, which he denies.