A Yemeni father kidnapped his daughter, in cooperation with her brother, from New York State, and deported her by force to the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, where she was forcibly detained, in preparation for her forced marriage.
The details of that tragic story were revealed yesterday, Thursday, after the US Department of Justice accused the father, Khaled Abu Ghanem, 50, and the girl’s brother, Walid Abu Ghanem, 32, of kidnapping.
The tragedy of the girl, who is an American citizen and a university student, began in 2021, when she fled to Mexico to marry her fiancé, whom she had known for nine years, without the knowledge of her family.
But when her family discovered the matter, she traveled to Mexico and forced her to return home against her will, and after her return she was forced to leave the university, was denied access to the Internet and social media, was not allowed to contact her American fiancé, and was locked in her home.
The father also threatened her that he would kill her fiancé if she did not agree to a marriage “arranged for her by the family” in Yemen.
Under pressure, the student traveled with her family in late September to Egypt and then to Yemen, where all her attempts to escape from hotel rooms and airports failed.
Once in Yemen, her father told her he would charge $500,000 for an arranged marriage. He also threatened her, saying, “You are no longer in the West. You are now in the Middle East. Women like you are being killed.”
In addition, the girl was beaten and strangled, according to what was reported by AFP.
Then, when no marriage was arranged in April 2022, the father and brother left Sana’a, leaving her other brothers the task of detaining her in an apartment.
While her fate remains ambiguous, according to Al-Arabiya.net, the US authorities arrested the father and his son, and charged them with kidnapping, which carries a penalty of life imprisonment.
But the indictment did not say how the US justice authorities learned of the boys’ plight in late 2022. However, it indicated that a non-profit organization, whose name was not mentioned, took up the defense of this girl’s case and provided details of her situation.
