Exclusive: forced marriage victim speaks
Updated on 13 July 2009
London doctor Humayra Abedin, held captive by her own family in Bangladesh and forced to marry someone she had never met, speaks to Sue Turton about her ordeal.
An NHS doctor from London who was held captive in a Bangladeshi psychiatric hospital, and forced to marry someone she had never met before, has given her first television interview to Channel 4 News.
The case of Dr Humayra Abedin made headlines around the world after she was released from her ordeal and returned to the UK last year, thanks to a dramatic intervention by lawyers and supporters on her behalf.
Today she visits the House of Lords to speak to peers in a private meeting about how the British law can do more to help women in her situation.
She told Channel 4 News about how she was duped into returning to Bangladesh: "I was told that my mother was seriously ill... when I went there I was immediately restrained…it's very vivid in my memory."
Her family arranged for her to be given sleeping tablets to keep her docile. Fearing that she was becoming "too independent", they locked her in the house and began to look for a husband. She still had her mobile phone on her, and sent a text message to a friend reading "My life is in danger, please save me.".
When her family found out she had texted for help, they arranged for her to be put into a psychiatric hospital.
"Six people came to may house in the evening... They covered my face... They were carrying me like a prisoner".
She was given anti-psychotic drugs that had a devastating effect on her: "My hair was falling off... I had tremors… When I was walking I looked like a robot... I couldn't stand for a long time."
After months in hospital she was moved to secure location in nearby village and forced to marry someone she met just hours before, still suffering the effect of the drugs she has only vague recollections of the ceremony.
Last November, while still drugged and under lock and key, she discovered that lawyers on her behalf in London and in Bangladesh were working for her release.
After being forced to court by the threat of contempt, a Bangladeshi judge ordered her release and return to the UK.
She spoke about the time she realised that she was free: "When I found out I was going to the UK the next day... I just felt God is great."
The foreign office has a forced marriage helpline: 020 7008 0151 (Mon-Fri 9-5).
Email: fmu@fco.gov.uk
