Bangladesh Court Orders Parents To Release Daughter

An NHS doctor who was allegedly held captive by her family in Bangladesh is due to arrive home in the UK later.

The parents of Dr Humayra Abedin, a 33-year-old trainee GP, were ordered to give her back her passport, after intervention by the courts and the British Foreign Office.

Lawyers for Dr Abedin, from east London, claimed her family planned to force her into an arranged marriage.

The High Court in London had ordered her return to the UK, under the new Forced Marriage Act. The High Court in Dhaka has now ruled she must be freed.

Dr Abedin told Sky News: "I'm relieved that I'm free, I'm happy.

"I just want to say thank you to all those who supported and helped me.

"I'm fine and I'm feeling happy. I don't have any bad feelings towards them, they are my parents so I don’t have any bad feelings."

The 33-year-old had come to Britain six years ago, from Bangladesh, to study for a Masters degree in public health at Leeds University. She was due to become a registrar at a GP surgery in east London, and had travelled to Dhaka in August after learning her mother was very ill. She was allegedly captured in Dhaka, and after virtually any communication with the outside world, a close friend told Sky News he received a desperate sounding text message from her which read: "Please help me. My life is in danger. They have locked me in a house. My job is at stake. They are making my life hell."

A protection order had been issued a protection by the Foreign Office, under the Forced Marriage Act, but as Dr Abedin is not a British National, it was not enforceable.

However, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said the order was issued in the hope it might "carry some weight" with the Bangladeshi court system.

(JM)