Anisa, tricked and beaten to marry a cousin in Pakistan

In August 2021, Anisa's entire family traveled to Pakistan to attend the wedding of one of her sisters with her cousin.. She attended the celebration, forced by her father, under the pretext of accompanying the family and being with her sister at the wedding.. However, once there she was able to verify the deception, since her father also intended to marry her to another of her cousins, much older than her and whom the woman barely knew, under the pretext that the link had already been arranged. between the two parties and his criteria as head of the family had to prevail.

Anisa refused to marry this forced marriage and for this reason she was physically assaulted, using “extreme violence”, according to the Police, who points out that the 22-year-old girl suffered serious injuries. She was saved by the intervention of other relatives who came to her aid and even the victim herself explained to the agents, some time after that attempted wedding, that due to the “brutal aggression” all the procedures could not be carried out to establish marriage.

Despite this, upon returning to Spain, the young woman discovered that there are documents that certify that she is married to her cousin, although she has not signed anything.. For this reason, in the company of her boyfriend Rajeb, chosen by her “for love” as explained by sources close to the couple, she went to the Cultural, Educational and Social Association of Pakistani Women (ACESOP) located in the Raval de Barcelona. There they took refuge for five days and four nights while the president of the entity Huma Jamshed moved heaven and earth to offer him refuge and a way out of his situation.. Anisa stated that she was mistreated by her father and that he had even forced her to sign documents against her will.

“The marriage that the father made has strangled the daughter, but it is void. I will ask the Government of Pakistan to annul it,” says Huma Jamshed, who recalls that the victim was able to return home in police custody when neither the father nor the brother were looking for documentation and clothes.. Huma Jamshed also denounced the situation to Barcelona City Council technicians and they to the Urban Police, who took the couple to the Police. They feared reprisals from the father.

In mid-May, the agents took advantage of the fact that the father was returning from Pakistan to arrest him for wanting to marry one of his daughters to a nephew against her will.. It was not the first time he had done it since he had already married another daughter to a cousin, so he was a repeat offender, according to the investigators.. He is accused of a crime of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of forced marriage, another of favoring irregular immigration and document falsification.

In this sense, the investigators point out that presumably the objective of the detainee, in addition to marrying his daughter to that person, was to bring his nephew to Spain, obtaining a residence and work authorization in his favor; alleging for this that this person is the spouse of a foreign person, in this case the victim, legal resident in Spain with renewed authorization. In this way, taking advantage of an assumption protected by the current legislation on immigration, his nephew would be exempted from fulfilling the requirement of the national employment situation.

The procedures to obtain this permit began last March and together with the request for initial residence and work authorization in favor of the detainee's nephew, a marriage certificate was submitted. Investigators indicate that it is false, since the victim denies having fully signed the marriage contract. Currently, both the victim and her current partner are receiving housing assistance and resources from an NGO, at the request of the Provincial Immigration and Border Brigade of the Police in Barcelona. After testifying in court, the father was released with charges, pending trial. The court issued protection orders to prevent the defendant from approaching or contacting his wife, two of his daughters and the current partner of one of them.

Huma Jamshed reminds this outlet that her entity works for the integration of Pakistani women into the “host society” in Spain but that many times they suffer “fear, marginalization and xenophobia” due to the “patriarchal culture” of their country since there “men are responsible for everything, from the economy to daily life through religious life, they control the present and the future, they decide and to save the purity of the family they want women to follow the steps they decide”. For this reason, he points out that his intention is to “stand up” for this vulnerable group and offer refuge to those who ask for it “practically one a day” to avoid a forced wedding..

“The Koran says that you have to ask the permission and consent of the woman before getting married, but the imams and leaders of the patriarchal society do not allow that interpretation,” says Jamshed, who recalls that Anisa was finally able to marry “for love” after spending days in hiding with your partner in your entity.