Become an Apple Subscriber or Patron to listen!
In 2021, 31-year-old Fawziyah Javed plummeted to her death after she was pushed from Arthur’s Seat, an ancient extinct volcano in Edinburgh, Scotland by her own husband, Kashif Anwar. Fawziyah had been preparing to leave her abusive husband & in the meantime, she recorded & documented the abuse he subjected her to & went on to help convict him from beyond the grave.
Fawziyah Javed was an only child who was born in Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England on September 4, 1989 to parents Mohammed & Yasmin Javed who were second generation British-Pakistanis. Despite being an only child, Fawziyah was raised in a loving family surrounded by her parents, aunts & uncles. According to her uncle, from the time that Fawziyah was only 8-years-old, she knew that she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up.
Fawziyah went on to study law at the University of Sheffield & did her LPC or Legal Practice Course in York & Leeds & worked at various financial & legal companies before she became a paralegal at Lyons Davidson Solicitors. As part of her practice, she did charity work for people in the South Asian communities & always had a passion for helping others. Those that knew her described her as kind & generous & someone who would do anything for anyone.
In August 2019 while Fawziyah was out with her mother Yasmin in search of new glasses, she met Kashif Anwar at Vision Express while he was working as an optical assistant at an eye doctor’s office in Leeds city center near her home in Pudsey. Shortly after their first meeting, Anwar told Fawziyah that she was exactly the type of woman he would want to marry. Anwar & his parents visited the Javed family three months later in November 2019 & he expressed his intentions of marrying Fawziyah & by July 2020, less than a year after meeting, they were engaged.
Fawziyah married Anwar in an Islamic ceremony on Christmas Day 2020. Despite the gorgeous occasion, her family was never fond of the man & felt that he was arrogant. However, they realized that Fawziyah had made her choice & they could only accept & try to support her decision. One of Fawziyah’s co-workers began to feel uneasy about her friend’s relationship with her husband when she noticed that Fawziyah would take many photos when she was out & away from Anwar, as if to prove where she was & whom she was with. The first time Fawziyah’s mom Yasmin knew for sure that something was wrong was when Fawziyah reminded Anwar to put his seatbelt on as they climbed into the car & he responded in a rage. Yasmin was clearly concerned for her daughter.
As their relationship progressed, Anwar became increasingly controlling of Fawziyah & forbade her from social media, blocked male members of the family on her phone & transferred £12,000 from her bank account to his own while she slept. Within three months of their wedding, Anwar knocked his wife unconscious in a cemetery & around the same time, he also put a pillow over her face & punched her in the head.
It wasn’t long before Fawziyah began to confide in her mother about the abuse she had been subjected to & told her that she was putting the plans in motion to leave Anwar & at the same time, she was trying to recover the money he’d stolen from her.
Fawziyah began to make preparations to leave Anwar while he made it clear that he would never allow her divorce him. He told her that there were no divorces in their family & no matter what, they had to stay together. Yasmin was terrified that her daughter would be hurt before she had a chance to safely leave Anwar so she brainstormed ways to keep Fawziyah safe. She came up with a code word, knowing that Anwar was monitoring her calls & texts. She instructed Fawziyah to text her the phrase, ‘I like cream cakes’ if she was ever in danger & Yasmin would know to call the police.
Yasmin knew that her daughter was an intelligent, strong-willed, educated & articulate woman; Fawziyah had fully recognized the control & abuse she was being subjected to by the man that she trusted enough to marry & start a life with. Anwar did not appreciate Faawziyah’s independence since it limited the control he was able to hold in their relationship. Fawziyah started to build a case against Anwar & began secretly recording their interactions. In one recording that was later played to the court, Anwar could be heard saying, You ruined my life. I’ll tell you one thing. You end this & will ruin yours. In another clip, he could be heard saying, Don’t challenge me, do not be that British woman.
Fawziyah also wanted to be sure there were documented records of her abuse & went to the police twice about her husband but asked that they not formally step in at that point as she only wanted the incident documented. The second report she made to the police happened only days before Anwar ended her life.
In September of 2021, Fawziyah had formulated her plan about leaving Anwar & at the time, she just so happened to be 17 weeks pregnant. One month earlier, Fawziyah had been in the hospital during the earlier weeks of her pregnancy & Anwar was overheard telling her that if she happened to die during childbirth, he would be ok because he would be free of her & he hoped that she would die as she gave birth to their child.
A woman who happened to be one bed over from Fawziyah overheard the interaction & went on to testify all that she heard. She could hear him repeatedly call her a b**ch, he told her that he should have never married her, that he wished he hadn’t. As this woman tearfully recounted the interaction, she indicated that as Anwar disparaged his wife during the interaction, he blamed Fawziyah for “bringing out this side of him.”
Fawziyah tried to cause as little disruption as she possibly could during the process of leaving Anwar. She agreed to attend Walima, a Muslim wedding event that Anwar’s parents had arranged for the couple. Walima is an Arabic word that means “feast” & refers to the second part of a traditional Islamic wedding. It’s a wedding reception or banquet that happens after the marriage ceremony. Instead of leaving him, she decided she would delay it until they came back from Edinburgh.
Yasmin went on to explain that her daughter was always more interested in putting everyone else’s needs ahead of her own. Fawziyah wanted to cause as little damage as she possibly could & assured her family that she would handle it when she came back & said, Let me get this over & done with & then I’m going to leave him. After the party, Fawziyah & Anwar were going to Edinburgh on a holiday. Yasmin was not pleased with this decision & absolutely did not want her daughter to go to Edinburgh, but she remained adamant & said, In five days time, I’ll be back home for good.
Fawziyah told her mom that they were going to be coming back on the Saturday which just so happened to be Fawziyah’s 32nd birthday & she was going to tell Anwar that she was heading to her parent’s home so her mom could give her her birthday presents. Once she got there, she planned to stay.
Sadly, Fawziyah’s life was ended at the hands of her abusive husband before she ever had the chance to put this plan in motion.
Anwar & Fawziyah checked into room 108 at Edinburgh’s Residence Inn on Tuesday, August 31, 2021 where they were set to check out four days later on Saturday, September 4, which would have been Fawziyah’s 32nd birthday. On Wednesday, September 1, the couple relaxed until about 10 am when they headed out for breakfast & shopping. On Thursday, September 2, 2021 Fawziyah & Anwar set out for a walk around Edinburgh & their path was traced through CCTV footage. They could be seen walking from the Asian fusion restaurant, Wagamama in St. Andrew’s Square where they had lunch & were later spotted at Edinburgh Waverley Railway station where Arthur’s Seat is located. The footage depicted the couple walking closely together, arm-in-arm. Fawziyah’s friend later indicated that Anwar had been looking forward to visiting Arthur’s Seat while they were in town.
When Fawziyah had told her friend, Lubna Qasim, about this fact, she looked her in the eye & said, I’m not so sure. Her friend was fully aware of the fact that Fawziyah had a fear of heights & referred to a trip to Barcelona where she had ridden in a cable car. Fawziyah was not interested in climbing the 823 foot high landmark & would have been much happier to stay in town & go shopping.
Lubna had met Fawziyah in 2008 during freshman year at Sheffield University & described her friend as a very charismatic person. She recalled Fawziyah’s frustration about the fact that Anwar spent all his free time playing video games despite the fact that he had to retake the optometry exams he failed during his time at Bradford University.
Fawziyah, being the person to put others’ needs before her own, agreed to go & Fawziyah & Anwar climbed Arthur’s Seat at about 7:30 pm with the intention of watching the sunset. They ended up arriving too late & missed the sunset so they decided to walk back down & stopped to take a selfie on a rocky outcrop at about 8:30 pm. Sadly, this photo ended up being the last picture of Fawziyah alive. Shortly after the photo was taken, Anwar pushed his wife, who was 17-weeks pregnant, over the edge. Rather than dialing 999, Scotland’s emergency number, Anwar instead called his father.
After she fell, she was visibly injured but remained conscious & able to speak for a short amount of time as she lay dying. 24-year-old Daniyah Rafique was approached by Anwar, who was in a state of panic & told her that his wife had fallen & he couldn’t find her. He claimed that his phone was dead & asked her to call an ambulance. Daniyah made her way down Arthur’s Seat with Anwar to assist him in finding his wife. When she did find Fawziyah, she desperately asked Daniyah if she would be okay & if her baby would be okay.
The woman reassured Fawziyah that they were getting help & emergency services were on their way. Daniyah noticed that Fawziyah was very scared & when Daniyah yelled to alert Anwar of the fact that she had found his injured wife, Fawziyah repeatedly said, Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me. Daniyah wanted to be sure that she was correctly understanding the badly injured woman who lay on the ground & confirmed, He pushed you? Fawziyah responded, yes I think so, I can’t remember. She later repeated, Don’t let Kash near me, he pushed me.
After this interaction, two police officers approached Daniyah & noted that Fawziyah was lying on the ground, writhing in pain. It was clear that she had suffered a terrible head injury but she remained conscious & able to speak. Police constable Rhiannon Clutton asked Fawziyah what happened & she first indicated that her cell phone had been taken from her & responded, he pushed me. She asked her who pushed her & why & Fawziyah responded, My husband because I told him I wanted to end it. Meaning that she wanted to end the relationship. The officer asked Fawziyah if she had been in contact with the police about her husband previously & she confirmed that she had, at her home in Leeds. When PC Clutton assured her that Anwar was with her colleagues, she replied, Good.
Tragically, as Fawziyah lay on the ground, still conscious, she repeatedly asked those present if she could have water & if she & her baby were going to die. As the fire service joined the rescue operation, Fawziyah’s condition began to rapidly deteriorate & she became unresponsive & went into cardiac arrest as the medical team began CPR. Sadly, at 10:18 pm on that day, September 2, 2021, Fawziyah was pronounced dead. Later that night, Anwar was arrested for murder.
After his arrest, he asked the detective how many years he would get & said that his life was ruined. He also asked if he would be able to be released on bail. He had a conversation with Yasmin who called him a horrible, disrespectful person as she could be heard in a phone recording asking, Which husband treats his wife the way you do?
A post-mortem exam revealed that Fawziyah’s cause of death were complications related to multiple injuries caused by a fall.
The court later heard from a witness who had seen the couple at Arthur’s Seat earlier in the evening & had told them the best route to get to the top & described them as “quite a nice couple.” When he later saw Fawziyah’s face on the front of the papers & learned what had happened, he immediately contacted police.
Anwar was later accused of mistreating his wife while at an Edinburgh hotel the day before his wife’s death on September 1 & for murdering her the next day after pushing her from the hill causing multiple blunt force injuries. With the death of Fawziyah also came the death of their unborn child which was the second charge he was faced with. Witnesses indicated that on September 1, Anwar was observed threatening his wife & treating her in an abusive manner which was likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer from fear as he repeatedly shouted at his pregnant wife.
When Anwar appeared for his first day of trial in March of 2023, he denied both charges against him. During the trial, it was revealed that between March 11-14, 2021, Anwar had knocked his wife unconscious while they were visiting a cemetery; he struggled with her, caused her to fall to the ground & then struck her in the head, rendering her unconscious. During this time, he also stole the money from her account & relocated it to his own without her consent & also placed a pillow over Fawziyah’s face to restrict her breathing as he repeatedly punched her in the head.
The jury which consisted of 15 men & women also learned of the threats he made to Fawziyah when faced with divorce & that he would not allow her to divorce him or go on to potentially remarry, threatening that he would ruin her life if she chose to end the relationship.
Anwar maintained that while they were on Arthur’s Seat he had simply slipped & bumped into his wife which caused her to plunge from a rocky outcrop to her death. He said that as they stood below the summit he lost his balance & accidentally knocked into her. He heard Fawziyah screaming & she shouted, Oh my foot as she went over the edge of the outcropping. The defense argued that when Fawziyah indicated she had been pushed, it was her misinterpretation of him trying to save her as she slipped. According to Anwar, the next thing he heard was a thud as Fawziyah’s body hit the ground 50 feet below.
The jury heard from Yasmin Javed who indicated that her daughter had been in a violent & coercive marriage & that after their holiday away, her daughter had full intention of leaving Anwar. She is unable to forget her daughter’s last words which go around & around in her head each and every day, Am I going to die? Is my baby going to die? Throughout the grief she battles with, she cannot get these words out of her mind.
Yasmin later indicated that she has yet to get all of Fawziyah’s possessions back & those that she has gotten back, she’s had to fight tooth & nail for because Anwar’s parents maintained possession of them. The court previously heard a recording of Anwar telling Fawziyah, Anything that’s here that you’re probably going to say it belongs to you. You’re not taking anything from here, It’s all going to stay here, that’s my possessions because it’s my house.
Yasmin believes that her daughter was murdered by Anwar because of his motives that stemmed from honor-based control, jealousy & insecurity. Honor-based abuse is a crime or incident committed to protect or defend the “honor” of a family or community. She referred to the fact that Anwar would tell Fawziyah that she couldn’t leave him because there was no divorce in the family & they stay in marriages no matter what.
Officers from Scotland who carried out the investigation indicated they did not identify any honor-based abuse & felt that the case revolved around domestic abuse & coercive control. However, the charity, Karma Nirvana who are supporting Yasmin did identify honor abuse in this case & a member of the Muslim Women Network UK point out that religious divorces can be used as tools of control which can require increased awareness & support for victims within these communities. Despite the fact that Fawziyah was an intelligent, educated woman who had the full support of her family, she still sadly ended up murdered.
The court was able to hear recordings of phone calls between Anwar & Fawziyah to better understand the extent of abuse she had been subjected to before her death. When Fawziyah went back to her parent’s home for Ramadan, Anwar demanded that she come back to their home & could be heard saying, Who the f**k do you think you are? You’re a disease in everyone’s life. The sooner you’re dead or the sooner you’re out of my life the better. This was in direct contrast to the fact that all Fawziyah had wanted was a peaceful life away from her controlling husband who would not allow her to leave.
On April 6, 2023, Kashif Anwar was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
A British true crime documentary series, The Push: Murder on the Cliff, was made about Fawziyah’s story & produced by Candour TV & follows the murder trial minute by minute at Edinburgh High Court. The docuseries is streaming on Channel 4 & True Vision TV.
Fawziyah’s parents have created the Fawziyah Javed Foundation to honor their daughter’s memory & provide support to parents of homicide victims. They recognized the fact that their daughter was always passionate about helping others in need & gave so much to others & feel this foundation can help her continue to do so, even after death.
According to the National Center for Domestic Violence, within the UK, 1 in 5 adults experience domestic abuse during their lifetime which equates to 1 in 4 women & 1 in 6-7 men. Last year 2.4 million adults were victims & every 30 seconds a domestic abuse related call is made to the police. During pregnancy, domestic abuse often begins or escalates & 1 in 3 pregnant women are victims of abuse. These statistics are likely drastically higher as domestic abuse is a largely hidden crime & in many cases, goes unreported to police. It’s estimated that less than 24% of domestic abuse cases are reported to the police.
After the hearing, on the behalf of Fawziyah’s family, Natasha Rattu who is the executive director of the domestic abuse charity Karma Nirvana, said, There will never be closure or justice for us. This is a lifetime of grief & pain. Our life sentence began the day our daughter was brutally murdered. She was the perfect daughter, granddaughter, niece, friend & mother-to-be, a successful lawyer who had the whole of her life ahead of her. Fawziyah has left the biggest void in our lives. The spark has gone out of our lives forever.
If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic abuse, help is available 24/7 at the National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233) or text BEGIN to 88788. Within the UK, you can call 999 or contact the 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Hotline at 0808 2000 247
References:
- Fawziyah Javed Foundation: About Fawziyah Javed
- Wikipedia: Walima
- Edinburgh News: Edinburgh crime: Kashif Anwar denies pushing his pregnant wife Fawziyah Javed off Arthur’s Seat
- Edinburgh News: Kashif Anwar: Arthur’s Seat murder trial told that victim Fawziyah Javed said husband pushed her
- BBC: Man murdered pregnant wife by pushing her off Arthur’s Seat
- BBC: Arthur’s Seat murder trial told woman said husband ‘pushed her’
- Dexerto: How to watch The Push: Murder on the Cliff in the US
- Wikipedia: Murder of Fawziyah Javed
- The Guardian: The Push: Murder on the Cliff review – the extraordinary film of unbearable horrors
- BBC: Arthur’s Seat killer told wife to stop being like a ‘British woman’
- NCDV: Domestic abuse statistics UK
- National Domestic Abuse Hotline
- National DA Hotline for the UK
