Sakina was sold by her father to a 65-year-old man, who was killed after one beating too many. Now his family say they want revenge

Engaged at 7, married at 12, jailed on a murder charge at 14, Sakina has never known justice and seldom been free. But at least she is safe in captivity. Beyond the walls of her detention centre many people want her dead. The eldest daughter of a poor Afghan farmer, she was sold into marriage by her father to a 65-year-old stranger for a $1,400 (£750) dowry, a deal designed to pay off debts. NI_MPU('middle'); “He was a very old man, without any teeth, and he was always cruel to me,” said Sakina, an alias. A striking, sharp-witted teenager wrapped in a coloured shawl, at first she displayed little evidence of trauma, though human rights officials and social workers say that most juvenile detainees in the country are scarred, both by their lives and subsequent experiences in the prison system. “He was very jealous and never let me out of the house, not even to see my family,” Sakina added. “He used to beat me with a stick or cable, sometimes twice a day.” The beatings started on her wedding night when her husband thrashed his 12-year-old bride for her sexual ignorance. One night there was a beating too many. Sakina woke to find the old man trying to throttle her with a rope. Her screams attracted her husband’s nephew, who burst into the room. There was a fight. The old man died of strangulation. Sakina and the nephew were jailed for murder. She was given an additional year for having an affair with the nephew, a charge she denies.

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The Times Online