British woman faces death by stoning after ‘being forced to marry uncle’

A woman claims her uncle abandoned her after he married her to secure immigration status to the UK. Photo / 123RF

A British woman faces a sentence of death by stoning after she was allegedly forced to marry her Pakistani uncle and have his baby in a claimed migration scam.

The couple, who share a child, have reportedly been accused of adultery by Pakistani prosecutors, which carries the punishment of lashing or death by stoning under Shariah law.

The bride, who is a former company director in her 30s and is currently believed to be in the UK, wed her mother’s brother during a visit to the South Asian country in April 2021, according to MailOnline.

She reportedly moved into his home in a village in Pakistan for around a month after the wedding, where she became pregnant with her uncle’s child.

The woman, in a now deleted video posted online, claimed to have been pressured into travelling to Pakistan to marry him so he could try to secure “documentation” that would allow him to move to the UK.

She later returned to the UK alone to have the child, while her uncle is believed to have been arrested in Pakistan and sent to jail pending further investigation.

‘He has tarnished my life’

She said: “He told me that I would help him in his travel to England and in return he would get a car, home, a lot of money and our life would be settled.

“Now he is not bothering about his baby and me. He has tarnished my life and I need help.”

A Pakistani police report seen by MailOnline claims the British woman willingly married her uncle and later conceived his child in a bid to secure his immigration to Britain.

The uncle is said to have admitted, in front of local elders and Islamic clerics, to marrying his niece, after neighbours raised the alarm with religious authorities.

The report said the elders alleged, “the matter behind the whole episode was just to get the entry into the United Kingdom through the British Pakistani [bride]”.

A legal opinion had been obtained from the department of prosecution which described the relationship as “not permissible in Shariah”, the report claimed.

It added: “Establishing marital relations on the basis of such a marriage is forbidden and falls under the category of adultery.”

Uncle arrested in Pakistan

Under Shariah law, convicted adulterers can be sentenced to lashing or death by stoning.

The report said a case was being built against the accused.

After being reported, the uncle went into hiding and never reached the UK, but was this week arrested in Pakistan along with a witness to the marriage.

Speaking from the family’s semi-detached home in Britain, the woman’s father told MailOnline: “We have heard what is happening in Pakistan, but we have not heard from her.

“We did not want her to marry him. We did not approve of the marriage and we tried to talk her out of it.

“We don’t have anything to do with her any more and I don’t know where she lives now.”

The Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have been contacted for comment.