‘Forcibly converted’ woman says husband wanted to sell her to IS

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala police on Wednesday arrested two people from North Paravur near Kochi over an alleged case of forced religious conversion of a 24-year-old woman and suspected plans to take her to Syria to be sold as a ‘sex slave’.

The two, identified as Fawaz Jamal and Mohamed Siyad, were charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and IPC, said AV George, Ernakulam (rural) superintendent of police.

The woman has accused her husband Mohamed Riyaz, 26, a native of North Kerala, of hatching the conspiracy to sell her to the Islamic State (IS).

In her complaint, the woman said she was forcibly taken to a religious centre in Paravur and tortured by the two at the instructions of her husband before being taken to Saudi Arabia. Police had registered a case in December following the woman’s complaint before a court. Police are also trying to contact Interpol and other agencies to deport her husband, a resident of Kannur, who is believed to be in Jeddah.

“We are examining whether the arrested have some connection with the IS,” the SP said.

While in Saudi Arabia, she said, she was locked in a room but managed a mobile phone and contacted her parents back home.

She said she was rescued from Saudi Arabia in October with the help of some NRIs and flew back to the country. The woman, hailing from Pathanamthitta in central Kerala, was brought up in Gujarat and studied in Bengaluru. She said she met Riyaz in Bengaluru in 2015 and later developed physical relations with him.

She alleged that he took videos of their intimate moments without her knowledge and started blackmailing her. Later, she was forcibly admitted in a madrasa in North Paravur and forced to learn tenets of Islam.

Later, their marriage was solemnised by a cleric in May 2016. The woman said she managed to escape from her husband but he later filed a habeas corpus petition in the HC, saying she was illegally confined by her parents.

She had filed a complaint with Kerala high court to annul her marriage with Riyaz.