What happened to Fawziyah Javed? Tragic true story of the pregnant lawyer who helped jail her abusive husband from beyond the grave is explored in Channel 4 documentary The Push
A pregnant lawyer who plunged to her death after being thrown of a cliff at a picturesque tourist site by her abusive husband will be the subject of a chilling new documentary.
Fawziyah Javed, from Leeds, was thrown 50ft off Arthur’s Seat in September 2021, following a horrific campaign of abuse by her partner, Kashif Anwar.
The 31-year-old employment lawyer was 17-weeks pregnant with her first child when she fell to her death at the hands of ‘jealous, evil and insecure’ Anwar.
Anwar, now 31, was jailed for at least 20 years after being found guilty of murder during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.
The cold-blooded murder of Fawziyah Javed will be explored in The Push: Murder on the Cliff, which also follows Anwar’s trial and his conviction.
Fawziyah helped jail her partner from beyond the grave by collecting evidence of the years of bullying and oppression she endured – but what led Anwar to kill and how was his violent outbursts and tirade of abuse eventually brought to light?
Fawziyah Javed, from Leeds, was thrown 50ft off Arthur’s Seat in September 2021, after a horrific campaign of abuse by her partner, Kashif Anwar
Who was Fawziyah Javed?
Fawziyah Javed was a 31-year-old employment lawyer from Leeds, and was known for her active involvement in supporting a wide range of charities throughout her adult years.
Fawziyah had married the then 29-year-old Anwar, an optical assistant, in an Islamic ceremony on 25 December 2020.
Five months after the wedding, Fawziyah became pregnant by Anwar, with the pair expecting their first child together.
Just four months later, in September 2021, Fawziyah was pushed 50ft to her death from a Scottish landmark by her ‘abusive, controlling, manipulative, aggressive and violent’ husband.
Fawziyah Javed, a 31-year-old employment lawyer from Leeds, pictured (centre) alongside her proud parents, Yasmin Javed (R) and father Mohammed Javed (L)
Fawziyah Javed was known for her active involvement in supporting a wide range of charities throughout her adult years
Fawziyah had married the then 29-year-old Anwar, an optical assistant, in an Islamic ceremony on 25 December 2020, before becoming pregnant five months later
What happened to Fawziyah Javed?
On 2 September 2021, Fawziyah and Anwar, had travelled to the Scottish capital, Edinburgh for a mini-break to celebrate her upcoming 32nd birthday.
It was by this point a fatigued Fawziyah had expressed to Anwar she did not want to be with him anymore, and asked him for a divorce.
Fawziyah’s mother, Yasmin Javed, told BBC News that her daughter had previously contacted divorce lawyers to ‘get the ball rolling’ but Anwar always said he would never grant her wish.
The mother said: ‘He used to say to Fawziyah, we don’t have divorces in our family, we don’t divorce, we stay in marriages, no matter what.’
Despite Fawziyah’s fear of heights while being over three months pregnant, the lawyer accompanied her husband when he suggested they visit the rocky summit of Arthur’s Seat, a landmark that offers sprawling views over Edinburgh.
It was at the peak of the cliff that Kashif Anwar pushed his pregnant wife over the edge, where she died a short time later from the injuries she sustained.
Daniyah Rafique, 24, managed to reach the dying employment lawyer on the side of the hill, where she was told: ‘Don’t let my husband near me, he pushed me.’
In a 999 call, later played in court, Anwar tells an operator his wife had slipped on Arthur’s Seat and that he tried to save her.
He said: ‘Fawziyah’s just on the edge of the cliff, man. We both just slipped, I tried grabbing her arm and she fell.
‘We both technically slipped and then I tried grabbing her arm and she went sideways.’
Only nine months after they wed, Fawziyah had expressed to abusive Anwar she did not want to be with him anymore, and continued to press for a divorce before visiting Edinburgh
Despite Fawziyah’s fear of heights, the lawyer accompanied her husband when he suggested they visit the rocky summit of Arthur’s Seat, a landmark that offers views over Edinburgh
Kashif Anwar, 29, from Leeds (front) followed by his wife Fawziyah Javed, 31, at 7.10pm on High St at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh – one of the final moments before the lawyer’s death
Photo issued by the The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, showing the fall area of Fawziyah Javed
How did Fawziyah Javed’s killer Kashif Anwar eventually get convicted?
It was thanks to the mountain of evidence against her abusive husband Fawziyah had collected that he was convicted for her murder.
Alex Prentice KC, the lead prosecutor in the case, said evidence collated by the victim in the months leading up to the murder was crucial to securing Anwar’s conviction.
Detective Inspector Bob Williamson from Police Scotland, who was in charge of inquiries into Fawziyah’s fall, said deaths like hers are very difficult to investigate.
He said: ‘When there is only one person who truly knows what happened and they choose to lie, the investigation then relies on largely circumstantial evidence.
However, Fawziyah had secretly recorded phone calls of Anwar threatening her and went to the police twice so that there was a record of his abusive behaviour, although she didn’t want them to intervene at that point.
The second police report was made just days before Anwar killed the employment lawyer from Leeds on the weekend away to Edinburgh.
Leading up to the tragedy, Anwar had been repeatedly violent: on one occasion – only three months after their wedding – he knocked his wife unconscious in a graveyard.
On another occasion, Anwar positioned a pillow around her head before punching it repeatedly.
Without the mountain of evidence Fawziyah had accumulated before her untimely death, it would have been unlikely that Anwar would have faced a conviction
Fawziyah had secretly recorded phone calls of Anwar threatening her and went to the police twice so that there was a record of his abusive behaviour, which was later unveiled in court
Fawziyah’s mother, Yasmin Javed, revealed that her daughter had previously contacted divorce lawyers to ‘get the ball rolling’ but Anwar always said he would never divorce her
Yasmin Javed, mother of the late Fawziyah Javed (centre) outside the High Court in Edinburgh
Farah Siddiq, from AMINA The Muslim Women’s Resource Centre, lays flowers during a vigil being held in honour of Fawziyah Javed who died on Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh
The court also heard Anwar withdrew £12,000 from her bank account while she was sleeping.
In one blood-curdling voice recording, Fawziyah is heard saying, ‘You’ve ruined my life,’ to which Anwar replies: ‘I’ll tell you one thing. You end this and I will ruin yours.’
In a recording Fawziyah secretly made, her husband had told her to stop behaving like a British woman.
Anwar can be heard telling his wife: ‘Who do you think you are? You’re not a man… so come back tomorrow like you’ve been told.’
His wife asks, ‘What’s your problem?’ before Anwar responds, ‘My problem? Don’t challenge me, do not be that British woman. Because I’m telling you, it will not work. I promise it will not work. It won’t work with me.’
Only months before her death, Anwar had chillingly told Fawziyah: ‘The sooner you’re dead or the sooner you’re out of my life, it’ll be better.’
The new Channel 4 documentary, The Push: Murder on the Cliff, unearths some of Anwar’s chilling last words to his wife, including: ‘The sooner you are dead, it’ll be better’
At the High Court in Edinburgh in 2021, Judge Lord Beckett sentenced Kashif Anwar to life (20 years minimum) imprisonment for the murder of Fawziyah Javed
Fawziyah’s mother claimed Anwar resented the solicitor being an independent, well-educated young woman.
‘He didn’t like the fact that Fawzi had her own voice, her own opinions. He didn’t like that,’ she said.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Judge Lord Beckett sentenced Kashif Anwar to life imprisonment for the murder of Fawziyah Javed, with eligibility to be considered for parole set at 20 years.
Speaking in the new Channel 4 Documentary, which was granted access to the trial earlier this year, Mr Prentice said: ‘Fawziyah collected a great deal of evidence which formed the pillar of the prosecution case.
‘I have prosecuted many murder cases over the course of my career but for a variety of reasons this case is extraordinary.’
Asked if Anwar would have been found guilty without Fawziyah’s evidence, he said: ‘It would have been very difficult.’
The Push: Murder on the Cliff premieres on Channel 4 on March 3 and 4 at 9pm.