In a landmark case, an Australian mother forced marriage and has been imprisoned for the first time under the nation’s forced marriage laws. Sakina Muhammad Jan, in her late 40s, compelled her daughter, Ruqia Haidari, to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi, 26, in 2019 for a small payment. Tragically, Halimi murdered Haidari just six weeks after their wedding, and he is now serving a life sentence.
On Monday, Jan, who had pleaded not guilty, received a minimum one-year prison sentence. The judge condemned the “intolerable pressure” Jan had placed on her daughter. Introduced in 2013, Australia’s forced marriage laws can result in up to seven years in prison. Although many cases are pending, Jan’s conviction is the first under these laws.
Jan, an Afghan Hazara refugee, fled Taliban persecution in 2013 and settled in regional Victoria with her five children. Her lawyers highlighted her ongoing “grief” over her daughter’s death, but she continues to claim her innocence.
During the trial, it was revealed that Haidari was first coerced into an unofficial religious marriage at 15, which ended after two years. She had hoped to delay any further marriage until she was at least 27 or 28, aspiring instead to study and work. Judge Fran Dalziel noted that despite Jan’s possible belief that she was acting in her daughter’s best interests, she had disregarded Haidari’s wishes and “abused” her parental authority.
“Haidari would have been aware that refusing the marriage would reflect badly on you and the family,” Judge Dalziel remarked. “She feared not only your anger but also the community’s judgment.”
Jan was sentenced to three years but may be released after 12 months to serve the remainder of her sentence within the community. Local media reported that Jan, after her sentencing, told her lawyer she rejected the judge’s decision before being escorted out of the courtroom.
Halimi’s 2021 murder trial in Western Australia revealed his violent and abusive behavior towards Haidari, demanding she perform household chores. Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, in a statement on Monday, labeled forced marriage as “the most reported slavery-like offence” in Australia, citing 90 cases reported to federal police in 2022-23 alone.
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