Idol Simon Cowell is Mezhgan Hussainy’s second husband – her first was a forced marriage at age 19 to a carpet merchant, after fleeing Afghanistan from the Taliban.
Latest Updates: Forced Marriage RSS
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aziz
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johnpi
The reports of Noor Almaleki’s ‘marriage’ reopens the issue of forced marriage, one that the UK has a great deal of experience with relative to US law enforcement. A hallmark of these marriages is that the victim is taken back to the home country so the crime is not committed on UK (or US) soil.
A commenter in this thread at Muslimah Media Watch named Joanne who works with victims of domestic and honor-related violence in the UK was a wealth of information, and had this to say:
The best source of information in the UK is in fact the Forced Marriage Unit, an excellent and very effective agency with excellent guidance which can be applied in cases of HBV. They have PDF’s online which are very useful if you can google them up. These guidelines will shortly be made mandatory for teachers, social workers etc in what will be a great step forward for the protection of minority women. Many women’s groups provide training, lectures etc to inform service providers in the issues of VAW for minority women.
This Youtube video about the work of the Forced Marriage Unit is a good introduction. Here is the FMU’s web page with a number of downloadable publications listed.
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johnpi
AP covers family and friend’s response to Noor Almaleki death. More details about her relationship with her father, and her “marriage.” Also of note: The media is continuing to be responsible in its coverage and not bring in religion.
Marcella Andregg, a friend for seven years, described Noor as independent, but far from rebellious and always respectful of her parents. She said Noor just wanted to live her own life, but that her father wouldn’t let her.
“His whole persona was very controlling, very strong-minded in the ways he wanted it for her,” Andregg said. “He talked down to her very much, made sure she knew she wasn’t good enough and brought a lot of dishonor to the family.”
Meanwhile, she said, Noor “just wanted to be a normal teenager,” and later, wanted to finish college, marry the man she loved, and have children.
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In 2008, friends say Almaleki took Noor to Iraq under the guise of visiting family. Actually, he had picked out a husband for her and told her she couldn’t return to Arizona unless she married him. Noor married the man and returned, and friends say he was in the process of trying to move here, too.
As with Aqsa Parvez, there is a move afoot to make her an “honor killing” martyr.
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johnpi
Kenyan women set up “to hell with men” village.
Tired of abuse and suppression a group of women in Kenya have joined forces to establish a female only village in Kenya, where the motto seems to be “to hell with men.”
The village, based 350 kilometers west of the capital of Nairobi, was started by a group of 14 women who decided to escape the dominance of men and live according to their own rules, Germany’s Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA) reported on Wednesday.
Called Umoja, or unity in Swahili, the village has become a safe-haven for women escaping arranged marriages, female genital mutilation (FGM) or rape and abuse.
….Despite the fact that women in the village live on their own, men from neighboring villages continue to harass them and throw stones at them.
“Get out of here. You are cursed,” they yell at them, prompting the women to build a barbed wire fence around the village to protect themselves.
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thabet
The Independent interviews the NHS doctor who was held hostage and forced into marriage when she visited Bangladesh.
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johnpi
When parents have too much power: Egyptian man cuts off penis to protest parent’s choice of bride for him.
“He was in love with a woman but his parents rejected her and told him to marry another woman he didn’t want. He took a knife and cut off his penis in his room.”
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thabet
The family of a missing British resident has been ordered to reveal her whereabouts “in a bid to prevent a forced marriage”.
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Tariq Nelson
British Diplomat trying to rescue girls of Pakistani descent from forced marriage
