Norway: Four years for forced marriage

The girl was 14 when she was married off. She was abducted by her father from a children's home in 2004 and sent to Iraq via Sweden.

The father's brother in law (34), was charged of having helped the father abduct the girl in 2005. He was found guilty and sentenced to 8 months in jail.

This is the second such court-case in Norway. In 2005 a father and son were sent to prison for forced marriage.

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A 50-year-old man who immigrated to Norway from Iraq has been sentenced to four years in jail, after he was convicted of forcing his daughter to marry a cousin back in northern Iraq in 2004.


The man had been indicted under Norway's laws against forced marriages (tvangsgift) and also for kidnapping his daughter and taking her back to northern Iraq in 2005.


Forcing anyone to marry is punishable by up to six years in prison in Norway. The sentence handed down Monday is the harshest recorded so far.


The defendant's daughter, now age 20, testified in court about being subjected to violence and threats. Her father allegedly threatened to kill her if she refused to marry her cousin.


When her family made plans to travel back to northern Iraq for "holiday," the daughter contacted Norwegian authorities. She said she feared her father would leave her in Iraq. She did return to Norway after that trip, only to disappear a few months later. She was finally found in northern Iraq earlier this year, taken to a safe place and eventually brought back to Norway.


Her father's defense attorney claims the marriage between his daughter and her cousin was voluntary. "This is very difficult, both for himself and his family," attorney Dagfinn Hodt told news bureau NTB.


Sources: Aftenposten (English), Nettavisen (Norwegian)