Afghan woman jailed in Australia for forcing daughter into fatal marriage

An Afghan woman has been jailed in Australia for forcing her daughter to marry a man who murdered her after six weeks of their wedding. A 40-year-old woman named Sakina Muhammad Jan.

Sakina becomes the first woman to be charged under Australia’s forced marriage laws. She forced her 21-year-old daughter, Ruqia Muhammad Jan to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi, the 26-year-old in exchange for a small amount of money.

When Ruqia refused the marriage proposal, Sakina had already received a dowry. Hence, she forcibly tied the knot with Mohammad Ali. Ali Halimi killed his new spouse Ruqia only six weeks after the wedding in 2019.

*Mohammad Ali Halimi, the killer of Ruqia*

He murdered Ruqia with a sharp knife while cutting her throat. He is currently serving a life sentence for his crime. The Western Australian Court convicted him guilty.

However, Sakina entered a not-guilty plea in an Australian court against her crime. But, an Australian judge rejected her request while describing her act as “intolerable pressure” she put on her daughter.

Hence, a jury in Melbourne’s County Court of Australia jailed an Afghan woman Sakina for at least one year jail sentence by rejecting her non-guilty plea.

Judge Fran Dalziel sentenced Sakina to a three-year imprisonment. However, he set a conditional term for her release after 12 months if she guaranteed not to commit further offenses.

When Judge Fran announced this verdict, about 15 family members of the Hazara community cried for Sakina. Meanwhile, Sakina told her lawyer she didn’t accept the court’s decision.

*Convicted mother (left) and murdered daughter Ruqia (right)*

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Sakina is an Afghan Hazara refugee who moved to the rural area of Victoria in 2013 with her five children after escaping Taliban persecution. She continued to argue her innocence as she experienced ongoing grief over the death of Ruqia.

According to testimony during Sakina’s trial, Ruqia’s mother forced her into an illegal religious marriage at the age of 15. However, her first marriage ended after two years.

Afterward, she had no marriage plan until she was 27 or 28. But her mother Sakina again forced her into marriage with Ali which took her life.