Brit Doc Freed From Parents, Forced Marriage

'Shocked' Bangladeshi judge allows woman to return home to the UK

By Mary Papenfuss, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 15, 2008 4:59 AM CST

(Newser) – A Bangladeshi court has ordered a British doctor released from the home of her parents, who imprisoned her for 4 months to force her into marriage with a stranger, reports the Daily Telegraph. The doctor managed to send a text message to a British friend for help after she was drugged and bound when she flew home for a family visit. "I am shocked," said the judge. The 33-year-old woman is preparing to fly back to London today.

The woman was lured to Bangladesh by a false claim that her mother was seriously ill; her Muslim family objected to the fact that her boyfriend in London, a 44-year-old Bangladeshi software engineer, is Hindu. "I don’t have any bad feelings towards them," she said after her release. "They are my parents so I don’t have any bad feelings.”

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Dr. Humayra Abedin, 33, was drugged and bound by her parents when she returned home to Bangladesh for a family visit.

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Please help me. My life is in danger. They have locked me in house. My job is at stake. They are making my life hell. - Text message to friend from kidnapped Dr. Humayra Abedin

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Brit Doc Freed From Parents, Forced Marriage