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A mother has become the first person to be jailed under Australia\u2019s forced marriage laws, for ordering her daughter to wed a man who would later murder the 21-year-old.<\/p>\n
Sakina Muhammad Jan, who is in her late 40s, was found guilty of coercing Ruqia Haidari to marry 26-year-old Mohammad Ali Halimi in 2019, in exchange for a small payment.<\/p>\n
Six weeks after the nuptials, Halimi killed his new bride – a crime for which he is now serving a life sentence.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Jan – who pleaded not guilty – was sentenced to at least a year in jail, for what a judge called the \u201cintolerable pressure\u201d she had placed on her daughter.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Forced marriage laws were introduced in Australia in 2013 and carry a maximum penalty of seven years imprisonment. There are several cases pending, but Jan is the first person to be sentenced for the offence.<\/p>\n
An Afghan Hazara refugee who fled persecution from the Taliban and migrated to regional Victoria with her five-children in 2013, Jan’s lawyers have said she suffers enduring “grief” over the death of her daughter but continues to maintain her innocence.<\/p>\n
The trial heard that Haidari had been first forced to enter an unofficial religious marriage at the age of 15 – a union that ended after two years – and did not want to marry again until she was 27 or 28.<\/p>\n
“She wanted to pursue study and get a job,” Judge Fran Dalziel said in her sentencing remarks.<\/p>\n
While Jan may have believed she was acting in the best interests of her daughter, Ms Dalziel said she had repeatedly ignored Haidari\u2019s wishes and \u201cabused\u201d her power as a mother.<\/p>\n
\u201c[Haidari] would have known that not taking part in the marriage would raise questions about you and the rest of the family.”<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was concerned not only about your anger, but your standing in the community.”<\/p>\n
Jan was sentenced to three years in jail, but may be released after 12 months to serve the rest of her sentence in the community.<\/p>\n
Afterwards, she sat in the court dock and told her lawyer she refused to accept the judge’s ruling before eventually being taken away, according to local media.<\/p>\n
During Halimi\u2019s sentencing for Haidari\u2019s murder in 2021, a court in Western Australia – where the couple had lived – heard that he had been violent and abusive towards his new wife, forcefully insisting that she undertake household chores.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Monday, Attorney General Mark Dreyfus described forced marriage as \u201cthe most reported slavery-like offence\u201d in Australia, with 90 cases brought to the attention of federal police in 2022-23 alone.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n