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Muslim mother who forced her school-age daughters to marry their cousins is jailed for 3 years | Mail OnlineA 'wicked and cruel' mother has been jailed for three years after forcing her two young daughters to marry their cousins in Pakistan.
The Muslim woman hoodwinked the pair, aged 14 and 15, into thinking they were going on a family holiday.
But when the schoolgirls arrived they discovered preparations were being made for them to marry their first cousins in a joint ceremony.
Yesterday, in what is being seen as a landmark case, a judge condemned the mother's actions and claimed she had been 'wholly misguided'.
She was convicted of child sex offences and attempting to pervert the course of justice as there is no current law which bans forced marriage.
Judge Clement Goldstone QC told the woman: 'Everyone is entitled to his or her beliefs and is to be encouraged to practise in accordance with those beliefs and to live a life which embraces the culture of those beliefs.
'But those who choose to live in this country and who, like you, are British subjects, must not abandon our laws in the practice of those beliefs and that culture.
'If they do, they will face the consequences.'
Manchester Crown Court heard the two sisters were forced to marry their cousins in July 2007.
After the ceremony the 39-year-old mother told her elder daughter that unless she consumated the marriage, she would 'tie her to the bed, blindfold her and strip her' and watch to make sure she had sex with her new husband.
She was arrested when her daughters confided in their teachers in February last year, after returning to the UK. Both sisters were taken into care. None of those involved in the case can be identified.
Forced Marriage is NOT illegal in the UK thanks to opposition by Muslim Communities.