(logo whooshes) (sirens wailing)
(somber music) - [Operator] Hello, this is the police. - [Caller] Yeah, can I
have the police, please? Because there's a man chasing his daughter with, I think, a hammer, I'm not sure. - [Operator] So it's a male with a hammer chasing his daughter, is that right? - [Caller] Yeah, yeah. - [Operator] How do you
know it's his daughter? - [Caller] Some girl's shouting, "Please don't call the police, 'cause there's a daughter
getting married off and she don't want to get married. That's why he's chasing her. - [Operator] Aged approximately,
what do you think? - [Caller] I would say
she's in year nine, yeah. - [Operator] Would you say about 14 or 15? - [Caller] Yeah, yeah. (tense music) - [Narrator] 8,000 people in the UK are threatened with a
forced marriage each year. - To me, forced marriage is
very much a cultural thing. It's not a religious thing. You're using the victim
as a piece of property. - [Narrator] For the victims,
it's not just their freedom, but sometimes even their
lives that are on the line. - Let me tell you now that this is about homicide prevention. - [Narrator] Forcing someone into marriage is now a criminal offense. - We want girls to know that
they'll be taken seriously. They'll be believed. (tense music) - [Narrator] We spent a year
with Greater Manchester police, going behind doors normally firmly shut to a world difficult to investigate and never before captured on camera. - She'd be totally dissolved. That's my concern for her
though now, that she's gone. Nobody. (tense music) - Yesterday evening, we get
a phone call reporting that a male is chasing a young Asian female down the street with a hammer. The young girl is heard to shout that her father was trying to marry her off. The girl is only 16 years old and she's been taken
into police protection and her father was arrested under the new legislation
regarding forced marriage. (phone ringing) Hi, it's about the
incident that you reported last night to the police. - [Caller] Yes. - I was hoping that I could
get a statement from you today. - [Caller] Yeah, you can. - Am I okay to come to your home address? - [Caller] That's fine, yeah. - Okay, I'm going to go
and see this lady now. She's potentially our most viable witness. So I'll go and get a statement from her. - [Narrator] The girl who
was being chased by her dad with a hammer last night
has been taken to a refuge. This is the very first case Manchester police are investigating under the new forced marriage law. - A lot of people will say, oh yeah, I'll give a statement to the police, but they don't realize that
that actually means that you're willing to attend
court and give evidence, and once they realize
that, they panic then, because they don't want to go to court, and then they won't give a statement. An Asian community can be very
close knit, which you know, can be a really good thing, when you're talking about other crime, but for family matters, they do tend to like to
deal with it themselves. So that's sometimes what we're up against. - [Narrator] Forced marriage
is not just restricted to the South Asian communities, but they do dominate the
Manchester police caseload. - Predominantly, forced
marriages take place because your parents
want to get you involved in a relationship with someone
they think is suitable. It has to be someone they like, someone they think is wealthy, maybe, someone they think is
from the right background, from the right caste. So they will force you into that marriage because they feel it's
the right thing to do, and the other reasons
it could be is because they've betrothed to some
individual, I.E. your cousin, for many, many years ago from
birth that they have to marry, and to break that promise
between your family is a huge honor issue. So, you've broken a promise. You've said you're going to allow me to marry your daughter or your son, and you can't change that. - [Narrator] But as awareness
of the new law spreads, more young people in fear of their lives are calling the police. Cries for help come in from
all over Greater Manchester. In the north of the city, another young woman is
fleeing from her father. (somber music) - [Victim] I came home late
from swimming, and my dad goes, where have you been? Have you been with that guy? And then he started to
punch me and kick me. He wanted to kill me. He goes, "I want to get the
knife out and stab you." Then he asked me, where's
your car keys and your phone? I go, "They're in the bedroom." So he runs to my room to get my stuff, whereas I run to the
bathroom and lock myself in. He went to sleep. I went to the attic where I
sleep and I locked the door and I went to bed, and it got to about seven o'clock in the morning. He went to work and I
packed a little bag up and I left the house. He wants me to get married
to his nephew in Pakistan, so he can come to England
and have a better life. This kid, he's always had this
dream of coming to England, because that's what's been put in his head since he was little. He's not going to come
because I'm not marrying him. - [Narrator] Roxanna
is in her mid-twenties. The police have found her a
place in a refuge overnight. - [Roxanna] I know, if I go back, the first thing he'll do is beat me up. If they make me marry this
man I don't want to marry, I'm going to have an unhappy life. There's no point. Why waste my life and his life? Because he has the right
to live a normal life too with a woman who actually loves him. The main thing is he just wants me to get
married in Pakistan. That's the bottom line. - [Narrator] Roxanna has
a British-Asian boyfriend, but neither family approves of the match. (tense music) - She is frightened of her father. If she goes back, she believes that he will
force her to go to Pakistan, where she will be forced
to marry her cousin. When her father said he
was going to kill her, she was very frightened,
and she does believe that he was going to get a knife
and he would have stabbed her. She will not attend court and not give any evidence
against her father. I do not want my father
arrested for hitting me. - [Narrator] Even though Roxanna
refuses to give evidence, threatening to kill is
such a serious crime that the police arrest her father and interview him under caution. - [Interviewer] When
you've been in your bedroom and you've said to her, "Where the fuck have you been? I know you have been with him." Is that true? - [Father] No, no, no, no, no. Because I feel shame to talk
like this with my daughter. - [Interviewer] And then she said that you've slapped her and you've punched her. - [Father] No. - [Interviewer] And she's
saying that she's used, obviously, the video
cameras can see my actions, but she's saying she puts her
arms up in front of her head because she thinks that
you're going to hit her. - [Father] Well, I shout at
her, "I'm not happy this time." But, listen, why she thinks, "Oh, dad," because when I shout, she thinks, "Oh, he's going to hit me!" But a daughter is a daughter. I love her. It's not easy
to hit your daughters. Son, you can hit him, but daughter, a father can't hit daughters. - [Interviewer] Okay, so you say- - [Father] You can hit your
wife, you can hit your sons, but daughters, I don't know why we can't. That's our weakness. Grandchildren and daughters,
you can't hit them. - [Interviewer] Okay, so I'll
remind you, in this country, that you can't hit anybody. - [Father] The night she says I beat her, honestly, I did not beat her about, because I told her, "Listen,
I'm not hitting you this time." I'm just telling you, but I won't be happy if you do the same thing again." - [Interviewer] She then
describes you saying to your wife, "Go and get the knife,
I'm going to kill her." - [Father] No. - [Interviewer] You've not said that? - [Father] Nothing like that, nothing. - [Interviewer] Okay, so you're saying you haven't said that. - [Father] No, no. - [Interviewer] Have you
said anything like that? - [Father] No, no. - [Interviewer] No? (somber music) - [Narrator] Without a
complaint from Roxanna and with her father
denying all allegations, the police are struggling
to press charges. - [Operator] This is the police, okay? I need to know where you are. - [Woman] Where are we, where are we? - Getting convictions is difficult. The main reason for this, obviously, is our victims don't want to prosecute. Going to the police and making
a complaint about your family is also very dishonorable. So there's all sorts of issues
for them to think about. Don't want mom and dad to get arrested. What's going to happen if I do? What are the repercussions going to be? So, a lot of them will come to us, saying, "Just protect me. Look after me. Make sure
nothing happens to me." (somber music) - [Narrator] Roxanna wants the police to help her retrieve her
possessions from the family home. She feels it's too
dangerous to go there alone. - So, clothes from your
room, iPhone charger. (officer muttering) Do you have any reason to believe that they're going to withhold any of these? - [Roxanna] No. - No, all good about it. All right, carry on. Every address has a history, and any individuals or offenders will be linked to an address. So, that address comes up. So, straight away, the brother,
he's known as being violent, a stalker, and a domestic
abuse perpetrator. So, eight offenses of violence,
supplying heroin, damage, witness intimidation. - She's made a huge decision
to come away from her family, and cut all her ties off. She's cut a very deep wound within the father's cultural values, 'cause, essentially,
within Asian families, the power players are your parents. - [Roxanna] Yeah. - So if the dad finds out that his children are not listening to him, and they're having contact, you know, what could
the effect be of that? That's what I'm thinking of. - [Roxanna] Yeah. - He's been let down
because he's obviously given his word to somebody else. I don't know if it's a
family member back home. - [Roxanna] Yeah. - You should be totally disowned, and that's my concern for her
that she's got nobody really. It really is sad, but that's
the future for her, isn't it? - [Roxanna] Yeah, I know
it's a massive step. - [Officer] It's a massive step. - [Roxanna] But it's got to be taken. - [Interviewer] You said that you haven't punched and slapped her. - [Father] No, no. - [Interviewer] No, and you
haven't threatened to kill her? - [Father] No. - [Interviewer] Okay, and- - He denied any assault. Basically said he approached her about getting home from work late. He was a bit annoyed because she didn't tell
her parents where she was, and they then, as a punishment, took her mobile phone off
her and her laptop off her until further notice, basically. Her mother wouldn't give any
information to the police and wouldn't give a statement. They also contacted her boyfriend
who lives in another area in relation to problems she's
been getting from father, and he wouldn't supply any information or give a statement either. - [Narrator] With no one
willing to give evidence, the police have to release
Roxanna's dad without charge, (foreboding music) Not knowing if she'll have
to face her father again, she's now going home
under police protection. This may be the last time
she ever sees her family. - [Roxanna] Yeah. - All right, just have a seat. (foreboding music) (somber music) - [Narrator] British-born Roxanna says her father has threatened to kill her. She fears he will force her to
marry her cousin in Pakistan, but she wants to marry
her British boyfriend. - [Roxanna] I'm Pakistani, so I understand Pakistani culture. A woman is supposed to stay
at home and cook and clean. If they do work, that's fine, but they still have to go
to Pakistan to get married, or marry who their parents
want them to marry, and if they don't, their
parents don't like it, but the parents do need to realize that, at the end of the day,
your child is growing up, and you should allow them
to make their own choices. - [Officer] Are you sure you don't want to come into the house? - [Roxanna] No, thank you. - [Officer] All right, is there anything you want
to pass on to your family? - [Roxanna] No, I'm all right. - [Officer] Okay, we'll see you shortly. - Just to outline, as we said before, this could be your last opportunity to go into your family house.
- [Roxanna] Yeah, I know. - If you want to see your mom, this could be the last time you see her, because of your father. - [Roxanna] Yeah, I know. - All right. (officer knocking) (officer knocking) - [Officer] Right, have you
spoken to your father-in-law? - [Narrator] Roxanna's sister-in-law arrives with permission
from Roxanna's father to let the police in. - [Officer] So, we've been
asked to come and collect clothes from her room. - [Sister] Yes, you can. - [Officer] There's
nobody else in the house? - [Sister] No. - [Officer] Do you mind if? - Yes, you can. No one's in. - [Officer] Thank you. - That makes sense, yeah. - [Officer] Yeah, because of the door. - It's locked. - [Narrator] With no other
family members present, Roxanna comes into the house herself. - I'll hold the bags and you put stuff in, if that's all right. (tender music) - [Roxanna] You can never
have enough clothes, right? She goes to me at the end. "You should have come to me
instead of going to the police." My dad was arrested because
he'd been hitting me and stuff. I didn't want him to be
arrested, but the police said, because I had reported
it, it is their job. They have to investigate it. I just don't want him to suffer. I don't want him to go
to jail or anything. At the end of the day, he's
still my dad, isn't he? - I had to ring the father to make sure there was somebody at the address. Going into the property, every single door was locked from outside, with some sort of a bolt. He's obviously keeping
control of the whole house. There's nobody at the address. He just tells me that
he doesn't want anybody to come into his house or be
there when he's not there. - Just very briefly, yeah. He's going to follow you out just for the first half a mile, a mile, to make sure there's nothing. - [Roxanna] I'm just
gonna go to my friend's. That's where I'm staying now. - No, I just wanted to make
sure nobody's following you. Yeah. - [Roxanna] A police escort, yay. - [Officer] All right, okay. - [Roxanna] Okay, thanks, bye. - [Officer] Take care. (tender music)
(radio chattering) - If she would've stayed there, and they would've taken
her by force abroad, we would never know that
she's married at all. It's down to her courage,
really, at the end of the day, to come forward and say, look,
this is what's happening, and we need more people to
come forward and say that, but it doesn't happen. It just doesn't. (tender piano music) - [Narrator] To encourage
more young women and men to find the strength to
stand up to their parents and refuse a forced marriage, Jasvinder Sanghera set up
the charity, Karma Nirvana. - Like I say, if you
come out to the office- - [Narrator] She's been campaigning for a law against forced
marriage for 10 years, - I was 14 years old when I
came home from school one day. My mother sat me down. She presented me with
a photograph of the man I was to learn I was promised
to from the age of eight. I either came home and
married who they said, or from this day forward, I was now dead in their eyes forever, because I had shamed my family by saying no to marrying this man. - [Announcer] And forced marriages that's due to be announced
by the chief inspector of- - For all the raft of offenses, what people argue is that
we have enough offenses on our statute books without having to worry about
a specific criminal offense. So, we have things like kidnap, rape, abduction, psychological
abuse, physical abuse, and that should be enough
to tackle forced marriage, but in fact, we've made
the case that it's not, because a specific law, actually, as somebody who is a survivor
of a forced marriage, enables me to own it as a crime, to be able to say to my family,
"You can't do this to me. It's against the law in Britain." - [Narrator] Very few young women are brave enough to stand
up to their families, risking social isolation,
violence, and even murder. One woman who was 16 when she
was taken abroad and married has finally decided to speak out. - My dad was one of these parents who is under the summons
of his family members, and he has to do what they will tell him. Taking your daughter abroad and giving her away to your family members just to please them. I mean, looking back now,
I'm just, I still, I don't, I just still don't understand,
how could a parent do that? It's kind of a form of blackmail. Like, if you're not going to... If you're not going to listen to us, then you're going to bring us misery, and as a teenager, I think I
didn't want that burden on me. You know, so even though I
was breaking, I was crying, I kind of went. I kind of... I had no choice but to go ahead with it. It was just me against so many of them. (somber music) (thunder rumbling) - Okay, everybody. Thanks for attending this meeting today. This meeting is in relation to two females that were brought to the
police station yesterday. Both females made disclosures that they're fleeing
forced marriage issues, and were about to be or have been forced into marriage by family members. Offenses have been disclosed, despite the fact, at the moment, they're not wishing to assist the police. My stance is that we will take action in relation to those offenses and arrests of family
members will be made. - [Narrator] 20-year-old girls, Aisha and Halima, are cousins. They were picked up by
a patrol car last night and brought to the police station. They're now in a refuge. - A week ago, there was
an engagement party. She's expressed to her families that she doesn't want to go through with this, and dad has threatened to kill her. Has said, "If you don't go through
with this, I will kill you." And specifically, he said,
"I'm not like other fathers. I will see this through no matter what police
involvement you have." - [Social Worker] Well, I've
put a genogram together, and we believe that they're all connected by the grandmother. - The social workers devised
a family tree for us, and it was quite shocking once it was laid out in front of us. What's most concerning is that the majority of these are
children, male and female, ranging from one years
old up to 19 years old, not including our lady that left. So, all these children need protecting. - [Narrator] This is the
largest number of children in one family at risk of forced marriage that the Manchester police
have ever come across. DI Tanya Kitchen believes 15
young people may be at risk. The first line of defense is to seek a forced marriage
protection order for each child. - You can't intimidate, harass. You can't take your
child out of the country. You can't take your child
to another city even. You will hand over your passports, which will stop you from being able to travel
out of the country, and we can put any
restriction that we feel fit on that order in order to
protect that individual from having a forced marriage. (somber music) - [Narrator] Tanya is concerned that so many children may be
at risk in two households. She organizes simultaneous arrests at both addresses across Manchester. One of the cousins, Aisha, has just had her engagement party. DS John Chatterton's team are
investigating the allegation that her father threatened to kill her. - So, the intentions this morning are to attend the address with a warrant, and arrest both the mother and father on suspicion of threats to kill. - [Narrator] 10 miles away, Tanya's team are investigating Halima's parents. If they married her off two years ago, then they broke the terms of the forced marriage protection order. - Ideally, what we want is details of everybody in that address and dates of birth. It links in to a forced
marriage protection order that we've taken out for all
children in that address. (tense music) - [Narrator] As each team is
dispatched for the arrests, Aisha claims that her parents are planning to fly to
Pakistan this morning. - The girl didn't realize that it was going to
be an engagement party. Then we've got the flight tickets, if we can find them to corroborate the fact that then she was flying out. (tense music) - [Narrator] With both teams
striking simultaneously, John has to get to Aisha's parents before they try to leave the country. (suspenseful music) - It's the police. Can we just come in, please? - [Narrator] Two cousins,
Aisha and Halima, have fled from their families
in the middle of the night, seeking police protection. - Is there anybody else in the address? - [Narrator] Police from
the Public Protection Team are simultaneously arresting their parents for forced marriage offenses in two locations across Manchester. - [Officer] I can get a Pushtu
interpreter on the phone. Yes, okay. Can you just tell her
that she's under arrest for breach of a forced
marriage protection order? - [Narrator] Halima's
parents are being arrested for forcing her into a
marriage two years ago. (tense music) Aisha's parents are flying
out to Pakistan this morning. She says they threatened to kill her if she's not on the plane. - I just wanted to make you aware of that I'm just going to both arrest you on suspicion of threats to kill. Okay, you don't have to say anything, but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you
later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be
given in evidence, okay? So, is there anything you
need to bring with you? (parents speaking in foreign language) All right, okay, well, you're
gonna need to come down to the police station
this morning, all right? And we'll see how that
develops later on, all right? What time's the flight? - [Wife] 1:20. - Okay, well, listen, we'll
discuss that later on. What I suggest you do now is
not say anything else to me. All right, you're under caution, okay? (somber music) - [Narrator] A forced
marriage protection order was placed on Halima five years ago, so her parents should not have
taken her out of the country, but they managed to get
her a different passport and got her through border
control unchallenged. Aisha's parents are being arrested because she says they
threatened to kill her if she doesn't go through with the planned marriage in Pakistan. - You need to sign there, first of all, to say that you've gotten the notice, and that explains what
your legal rights are. (somber music) - [Narrator] DS Jhanji Garrod knows it's not just family honor which lies behind forced marriage. - In terms of money, we
can't be naive about it. Yes, we do know a lot
of people potentially are forced into marriage, so
they can come into this country to keep the land within the community, because if you see, with a
lot of the forced marriages, there are also between
cousins and family members to keep that land, to keep that money. So, land, honor, gold, they all come into play
somewhere along the line. - [Narrator] As the two sets of parents are booked into police
stations across the city, the public protection team only have a warrant to
search Aisha's house. They're using the new law
to look for any evidence that could back up the fact
that a marriage was planned. - We're just looking at any text messages in relation to threats, any correspondence in
relation to the flights, why she's going over there,
and anything that happened before it was even brought
to the police's attention, basically, that would assist her with it. - [Narrator] Whilst the
team searches the house, one officer learns from Aisha's sister that Aisha made a solemn
promise to her father last week. - So, speaking to her sister, and her parents had made
a swear on the Qur'an, which means that she puts
her full hand on the Qur'an, and say that she's going to
go ahead with the marriage, and that's when the money
starts to be exchanged with regards to the families, so that's why her father was very upset when she left the address for
days after the actual party. - This looks like it's
from the Mandi Celebration, which is like their version
of a hen party, I'm informed. So, she would have worn this, but it's great evidence in
respect to the fact that a party happened as a result of the fact that there was going to be a wedding. So, you know, it's things
like that we need to seize, and we need to be asking
them questions on interview about what these things are for. "To a very special couple
on your wedding day." But no reference to the
husband's name yet whatsoever. (somber music) At this moment in time, she's got nobody else to support
them other than ourselves and people that she's never met before, and you know, so it's very,
very difficult, isn't it? And you can see why they
tell 'em to come back. Because I'm assuming
it's a very lonely place. - Hi, Tanya, are you okay? Yeah, two in custody, with
flight details in hand. Yeah. Yeah, they answered the door. He answered the door with
his tickets in his hand. Quite laid back about it, really. It's like they kinda expected it. (somber music) (phone ringing) - Hi, is that Sally? - [Sally] Yes. - It's Jasvinder Sanghera
calling from Karma Nirvana. - Karma Nirvana is a lifeline for victims like Aisha and Halima who
have nowhere else to turn. - [Jasvinder] Can I just
tell you what I'd like to do? - [Narrator] Once they've fled, many spend the rest of
their lives in isolation, fearful that their families
will track them down. - So, in terms of safety
today and risk to you, tell me a bit about, how safe do you feel, or unsafe do you feel? - I still worry at what stage he's going to come and get us. - Our victims will always have
more than one perpetrator. In fact, these are multiple perpetrators within a family dynamic that
operates an honor system. How fearful are you about that? - Petrified that he's gonna
come and finish off the job. He's not going to allow this to happen, because I've shamed him. - Because you've shamed him. That makes you fearful for your life? And very often, these are the people who are your nearest and dearest, the people who are meant
to love you the most, that are doing it to you. It makes it more difficult, because you're made to feel very isolated. You're actually made to feel
as if you're the perpetrator that is going against the
way this family does things. So they perceive you to be
the bad guy for taking a stand and wanting to assert your
rights and your independence. (somber music) - [Narrator] Neither of the two victims, Aisha and Halima, want to
give the police a statement. The custody clock is ticking. Aisha's parents, who've been arrested for
threatening to kill her, can be held for 24 hours while the police try to gather
enough evidence to charge. - We've been sent some
pictures from the victim, which shows her and her parents, along with other family members, at a very traditional engagement party. This is the victim here,
the one that's flared, and this is her father
and mother at the end, and there's lots of
individual pictures of herself in a beautiful traditional Asian gown. The dress that she's wearing was actually hung up in her parents' bedroom. The traditional article there was in her bedroom on the windowsill. The amount of money that this possibly would have
cost is astronomical, really. - The evidence that we've got, we know that they were
going to travel away today, 'cause we've got the tickets. We know that there's been a celebration, because we've got the cards, the gifts, the dresses, the photographs. So we know that they were
planning wedding, as such. We've got a verbal account from our victim to say that, as far as she's concerned, she was being forced into that marriage. She'd been threatened that, if she doesn't, she will be killed. However, that victim hasn't
physically put pen to paper, so it depends on what they say in custody. - I think he was also,
when I came to your cell, he was further arrested for what we refer to as an
attempted forced marriage, because ultimately, what
she's saying to the police is that she doesn't want to
enter into an arranged marriage. (father speaking in foreign language) - It's up to her if she
wants to get married or not. You know, we can't do anything. - [Interviewer] Would you
force her into a marriage? - [Wife] No comment. - [Interviewer] Would you force her to enter into a marriage with anyone? - [Wife] No comment. - [Interviewer] What would happen to you if she doesn't enter into this marriage? - [Wife] No comment. - [Interviewer] Are you at any risk? - [Wife] No comment. - [Interviewer] Would
your life be in danger by your daughter not
entering into this marriage? - [Wife] No comment. - The issue that we've got at the moment is trying to prove the threats to kill. So we are going to need to examine the mobile
phones with both parents. - [Narrator] If the police can find evidence of threats to kill on the phones, then they can proceed with a
prosecution of the parents, even without a statement from Aisha. 10 miles away, Tanya's team have Halima's parents in custody. They breached a forced
marriage protection order. - [Officer] Have you ever been arrested? - [Narrator] But because the order was issued five years ago, the new criminal
legislation doesn't apply, so they're not being
interviewed by the police, but taken straight to appear
before the civil court. - It is still quite
difficult at the moment, because the girls haven't
given us statements. We may never get that, or it just may take some time, really, for them to come onboard with that. It's very difficult
thing to ask them to do, to turn against their own family. (tender music)
(officers chattering) - [Narrator] Both cousins
are still safe in a refuge, but Halima says her parents didn't use direct threats
of violence against her. - [Tanya] It's quite sad, really. It's quite subtle how
they're forced into it. It's almost like a blackmail, enticing you back with lies, and there's a gradual wearing you down, being nice to you, then being horrible, then being nice to you
again, being horrible, and it really does get
into emotional abuse. (tender music) - [Officer] There we go. - Very little physical force
needs to be used to do this, and she said, "I got to the point that I had to go along with it. They made me. I had to. They would talk about it incessantly." (tender music) Really, that was the forcing element, and she said, "When I
went through with it, I expected some kind of reward for doing what they wanted me
to do, but I didn't get that. I didn't get anything. And really, with forced
marriages, sometimes, very little force and
threats need to be used. Gradually just wears you
down and grinds you down, that, really, you're left
with no other option. You have to go through with it, and that's what happened,
I think, in these cases. (siren wails)
(somber music) - [Narrator] Greater Manchester police have trained all their frontline officers to be on the lookout
for honor-based violence when they're on patrol. - At this point in time,
I need to inform you that you're under arrest, okay? For suspicion of assault. - An Asian male has gone into a shop, where he's had an
altercation with his sister, and then has then threatened
to cut off her head, and cut off the head of her
daughter, who's three years old. - [Narrator] Honor-based violence means the wider family are
usually the perpetrators, but the coercion is sometimes so subtle, it's very difficult to detect. (somber music) - Victims of honor-based
violence and forced marriage are one of the most vulnerable
victims we can come across. Once a victim enters a forced marriage, everything else that takes
place from that marriage, there's no consent there, from day-to-day things that
go on between the couple and having kids, and everything, you could argue, is unconsentual, because it's a forced
marriage to begin with, and so I mentioned, it's like a life-term
sentence in some aspects, which, for some victims, sadly, is true. (somber music) - [Narrator] In many cases, forced marriage leads to further abuse. This is what Sajida found when she was 16. - He came to England after three months. Things became worse. He raped me. There was a lot of mental torture. There was a lot of physical violence. He was beating me up more,
every time I got pregnant, because we found out it's a girl, and he wanted a boy. - A lot of the cases where young people have
been forced into marriage, they do end up in a domestic
violence-related situation where they're not happy
in that relationship. There's no way of getting them out of it. They're treated nothing
other than as a house slave. There's no escape as far
as they're concerned. They have to stay within that marriage. To leave that marriage, it's just another way of
disrespecting your community, your family, and the honor code again. - [Narrator] Sajida's abuse
continued for 13 years. - I had a knife held to me, and then you've got this
cable wire and he beat me up. I now have scars all
over my legs and my back. I had a phone with me,
and I kind of dialed 999, but I couldn't kind of say anything. Suddenly, the police turned up, and he won't let me open the door, but told me to tell them
nothing has happened, but with one look at my face, they kind of, you know,
got the clear picture. (somber music) (siren wailing) (phone ringing) - [Operator] Police emergency. - [Caller] Hi, I'm
ringing because our father has kicked us all out of our house. - [Operator] And how old are you, love? - [Caller] Uh, I'm nearly 15. - [Operator] Okay, and who are you with? - [Caller] My mom and with
my brothers and sisters. - [Operator] And your dad kicked you out? Are you all stood in the street? - [Caller] Yeah. - [Operator] Outside the house? - [Caller] Yeah. (siren wailing) - Um, so we're looking for Silvarasje. The male has allegedly assaulted
his wife earlier today. He works just at the shop there, and he's due to be back any second, so we'll arrest him and
take him in for questioning. - [Narrator] Zaneb and her four kids have been thrown out of their house after her husband became violent. - At this moment in time, okay? I need to inform you that
you're under arrest, okay? On suspicion of assault. Assault, hitting a girl, yeah? (man muttering) And you caused harm to somebody. - [Narrator] The responding
officer has to work out whether this incident could
be honor-based violence. - The questions relate into
the honor-based violence. It's more the control inside, you know? And then there's also a
few questions regarding, has anybody else ever
threatened to kill you, or has anybody else
threatened to harm you? - [Narrator] With Zaneb's
husband in custody, the family can go home, but the officer has to find out how safe Zaneb and her children will be. - If you could just give
us a brief sort of idea of what's happened today, and just surrounding the
argument and the assault, which is obviously alleged. (woman sobs) It's okay. Take your time. Okay, can you just tell him that he's arrested for the assault on his part, whereby he's grabbed around the throat. He was brought in for... When you say his posture,
how was his posture? - A police interpreter translates. (woman speaks in foreign language) - He pushed me back and I
couldn't get up from there. - So, you say there? (women speaking in foreign language) - Yeah, there. - He pushed me hard, and he... (somber music) - [Officer] Are you feeling
frightened at the moment? (interpreter speaks in foreign language) - [Victim] Yeah. - [Officer] Yeah? Do you think there's any fear that violence could happen again? (interpreter speaks in foreign language) - [Victim] Yeah. - [Officer] How long
have you been together, and how long has this been going on for? (women speak in foreign language) - We've been married for 16 years, and I used to give him
hugs and he used to visit, and, you know, it's been like this- - [Officer] Since the start, okay. - [Narrator] The police always
have to assess the risk, not only for the victim,
but also the children. Sajida has four kids who
witnessed her abuse at home. Her husband was remanded in
prison, but the wider family put pressure on her to drop the charges, and she took her husband back. - Every time, when we
were doing these things, I wanted to move away from him, but there was a lot of
pressure from family members to stick by him because of
what the community will think or what the family members will say, and again, anyways, my
husband, you know, like, and, well, maybe he lost his temper. You know, like, husbands do this. - [Narrator] It was another two years until Sajida found the strength to stand up to her husband again, when he started to threaten
to take his daughters abroad to marry them off. - He used to say he was
going to sell them off. He's going to marry
them off to his cousins. He's going to teach me a
lesson for sending him to jail, and I was thinking, "I
can't live with this man." I don't want them getting
married to cousins or people who they don't know and suffer for the rest of their lives, because they don't deserve this. I have to make sure they
are going to be safe, they are going to be protected. No one is going to take
them outside the country to please their relatives
and marry my daughters off. - [Narrator] I always say
to victims, remember this, that you can say no to a forced marriage. There are options, but if you
go through with that marriage, a forced marriage is for life
and it takes away your life. You are now being sentenced. On your wedding night, you will be raped, then you'll be raped
again and again and again, and forced to become impregnated, and then your rights as a woman are taken off you completely, because then there are
expectations of you as a woman that's been forced into a marriage, and you are dealt with as
a second class citizen. (siren wailing) - [Narrator] Greater Manchester police have had 250 cases in the last year of honor-based violence
and forced marriage, but because of victims'
reluctance to testify, the force has yet to bring
a single case to court under the new law. DI Tanya Kitchen was successful in securing a conviction in the civil courts for Halima's parents, who broke the forced
marriage protection order. They received a six month
suspended prison sentence. (door slams) - I had to make a tactical decision, and it was a tactical decision, because what I wanted to do is arrest them and send a message to that family, to protect the other
children within that family, that we will do something about it. (gentle music) - [Narrator] 11 forced
marriage protection orders were placed on the other
children in that family. This is the largest number
ever placed by the courts at one time in Manchester. - I'd just like to make
you aware that I'm- - [Narrator] No mobile
phone evidence was found, and so the threat to kill
allegations against Aisha could not be proved without her statement. Her parents were released without charge. After four months in a refuge, Halima and Aisha have chosen
to return to their families. Halima is having her
forced marriage annulled. - Okay. - You've got to get out
of the mindset of, well, what is a good result, and what you perceive to be a good result. It may not work out totally
how you want it to be, but if you've caused disruption, if you've, you know,
changed this family setup and broken it apart a little bit and broken the control element of it, then that's a good result. - [Narrator] Roxanna married her boyfriend two months after she fled. She says they've now been accepted back by both their families. (gentle music) Sajida divorced her husband and got forced marriage protection
orders on all her daughters. Her girls are all currently in education, and they can marry who they want. - I'm not going to be part of their group where they are willing to
give their daughters away, just to please their brothers and sisters, and let their child suffer
and watch them suffer and not do anything. I mean, I don't understand this. I mean, where's the thought? Parental emotion when you
give birth to your children? You're meant to save them. (gentle music) - [Narrator] A rare case
of craniopagus twins. This occurs only once in
about 2 million live births. Their condition was quite
beyond the doctors at Shiraz, and after three years of
tests and examinations, no one was any nearer
to finding a solution. The twins' parents were able to visit them
in Shiraz quite regularly. Then, one day, when
the sisters were three, they were, again, suddenly,
and without warning, spirited away.
