For the first time in Australia’s history, a mother was jailed under the country’s forced marriage law after she allegedly coerced her daughter into a marriage that led to her murder.
An Afghan mother forced her daughter into marriage. Six weeks later the 21-year-old ended up dead https://t.co/OTiE7qiulp
— Lisa (@lisareality1) July 30, 2024
Sakina Muhammad Jan, in her late 40s, was found guilty of forcing her 21-year-old daughter Ruqia Haidari to marry a 26-year-old man named Mohammad Ali Halimi in 2019 in exchange for a small payment. Just six weeks after the wedding, Halimi murdered Haidari, eventually getting arrested and sentenced to life in prison for the crime.
Jan was sentenced to three years in prison for violating Australia’s forced marriage law on July 29th, becoming the first person to be imprisoned under the law. Introduced in 2013, the forced marriage law carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison. Before announcing the verdict, the judge cited the "intolerable pressure" Jan placed on her daughter.
The mother pleaded not guilty and maintained her innocence but expressed her grief over her daughter’s murder. Prosecutors also argued that societal pressure led Jan to coerce her Haidari to marry Halimi.
A Hazara refugee from Afghanistan, Jan fled Taliban persecution with her five children in 2013. Haidari, her youngest child, had been first forced into an unofficial religious marriage at 15, which ended in divorce when she turned 20.
Ruqia Haidari was forced to marry a man she barely knew - a practice that’s illegal in Australia.
Her mother has been held responsible, but only after the 20-year-old’s new husband murdered her in cold blood.
Watch #60Mins on @9Now: https://t.co/y4i8k5Y5iw pic.twitter.com/w58LCtoguZ— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) June 30, 2024
Haidari previously expressed her desire to remarry when she was 27 or 28, wanting to pursue her education and career first. But the court heard that, in the eyes of her community, she lost her value because of the divorce.
The court was told that this divorce became the reason Jan coerced Haidari into a second marriage to restore their family’s reputation. Halimi and Haidari were wedded in a religious ceremony in November 2019 without official registration. Jan received a bridal dowry of $14,000.
Although Jan may have believed she was acting in her daughter’s best interests, the judge said she had repeatedly ignored Haidari’s wishes and abused her power as a mother.
“She wanted to pursue study and get a job,” Judge Fran Dalziel said during the sentencing.
Tragic
— Siobhan O'Beirne (@siobhanTivoli) July 29, 2024
Several people close to Haidari told the court she did not want to be in an arranged marriage, saying she wanted to study and marry for love. During the husband’s trial for Haidari’s murder in 2021, a court in Western Australia was told that Halimi had been violent and abusive towards Haidari, forcing her to do household chores.
Haidari sent a video to her family the day before she was murdered, complaining that she would sleep in late and refused to cook or clean. She also rejected Halimi’s attempts at sexual intimacy.
"Haidari would have known that not taking part in the marriage would raise questions about you and the rest of the family," Judge Dalziel said. "She was concerned not only about your anger but your standing in the community."
“While you believed you were acting in her best interests, you were not, in fact, doing so,” the judge added, further saying that she could also face deportation back to Afghanistan, which would be a “very grave thing” for a Hazara woman, as the group is severely persecuted in the country.
The Islamisation of Australia.
— martydownunder4 (@martydownunder4) July 29, 2024
Although Jan was sentenced to three years in prison under Australia’s forced marriage law, she could be released after 12 months to serve the remainder of her sentence in the community. Jan refused to accept the judge’s sentence before she was taken away.
