Muslim girl 'attacked by siblings for kissing man'

A Muslim teenager was kidnapped, imprisoned and had her hair cut off after her siblings saw her kiss a white man, a court has heard.

Shamima Akhtar, 18, was bundled into a car, taken home, beaten, called a whore and a prostitute and then had her waist-length hair cut to her neck by her two older sisters, Nadiya, 25, and Nazira, 29, and brother Kayum Mohammed-Abdul, 24.

They "screeched" in the car park of a restaurant in Basingstoke, Hampshire, when they saw her kissing Gary Pain on 1 April last year, Winchester Crown Court was told. An "extremely aggressive and threatening" Mohammed-Abdul also assaulted Mr Pain as Ms Akhtar was "firmly escorted" to the car and thrown in, Peter Asteris, for the prosecution, told the jury.

Ms Akhtar came from a strict Islamic family and was controlled by her siblings, but she considered herself Westernised, the court heard. All three defendants deny kidnap, actual bodily harm and false imprisonment. Mohammed-Abdul denies assaulting Mr Pain and the two sisters also deny assaulting Ms Akhtar.

"This case is to some extent unusual because it's about a family, the Crown say, who oppressed and chastised one of their members that was not complying with the rules of that family," Mr Asteris told the jury.

The court heard that Ms Akhtar had her mobile phone taken from her but she had another one and she managed to text Mr Pain to say what happened. Ms Akhtar called the police the next morning, the jury was told. The trial is expected to last six days.

PA