Toronto — Globe and Mail Update Published on Wednesday, Jun. 16, 2010 3:07PM EDT Last updated on Wednesday, Jun. 16, 2010 5:38PM EDT

An Ontario judge sentenced the father and brother of Aqsa Parvez to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years, citing the “abhorrent motivation” and gender equality issues behind the crime.

The pair expressed no emotion, though the father briefly put his arm around his son before they were led away. Numerous family members were in attendance.

On Tuesday, Muhammad Parvez, 60, and Waqas Parvez, 29, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Ms. Parvez. Her father was angered by her refusal to wear the hijab and other rejections of the traditional Muslim way of life that the rest of the family espoused.

Their guilty plea came with a mandatory life sentence, with parole eligibility after between 10 and 25 years, at the discretion of the judge. The defence and the crown had jointly recommended 18 years of parole ineligibility for both, a figure crown counsel admitted was high.

The grade 11 student at Applewood Heights Secondary School had run away for the second time in the weeks before her death, telling counselors at school and friends that she felt no freedom at home, and couldn't see the situation changing. The youngest of eight, five of her siblings were wed in arranged marriages to their first cousins.

She went to live with the family of a friend, Amal Tahir. Two days before her death, Ms. Parvez went to the movies for the first time in her life. She was looking for a part-time job, another thing forbidden by her family.

But on the morning of Dec. 10, 2007, Ms. Parvez got into a van driven by her brother Waqas. At 7:56 a.m., her father phoned police from the family home saying he had killed his daughter with his hands. Doctors were not able to revive her.

In an interview with police hours after the murder, Ms. Parvez’s mother said when she asked her husband why he had killed his daughter, Mr. Parvez told her: “My community will say you have not been able to control your daughter. This is my insult. She is making me naked.”

Later, recorded talking to herself in an interview room, she said, “Oh my Aqsa, you should have listened. Everyone tried to make you understand. Everyone begged you, but you did not listen.”

She also said, “broken legs and arms ... said will break legs and arms – has killed her straight away. What should I do?”

Her brother, Atishan Parvez, told police he didn't think his sister deserved to die, but if it was his daughter, he would have broken her legs.

A witness, Steve Warda, said Ms. Parvez’s brother told him he intended to kill his sister and that his father would take the blame. He asked if Mr. Warda could get him a gun and wanted to know the consequences of killing someone in Canada.

In a meeting secretly videotaped by police in June of 2008, Ms. Parvez’s brother told Mr. Warda that he choked his sister until she died, and that he couldn’t get the image out of his head. He said only he and his father were involved but the whole family knew what was going on, according to the agreed statement of facts read in court Tuesday.

The murder incited furious debate across the country and overseas about the assimilation of immigrant families, intergenerational conflict and so-called honour killings.