A YOUNG Asian woman was allegedly drugged and kidnapped by her family after she ran away and married the man of her choice, a jury was told.

Naila Afsar, 23, was threatened with death, assaulted and abused by angry close relations.

She was finally given a milky drink laced with a prescription-only sedative in a bid to take her back to the family home in Bradford and keep her away from Afsar Saddiq, who she had wed without telling them instead of her first cousin.

Mr Saddiq also came under attack, was told his wife was not coming back and his mobile phone was taken from him so he could not contact her, Burnley Crown Court heard.

In the dock are Mrs Afsar's mother and father, Shamin Akhtar, 58, of Kirkwall Drive, and Mohammed Khan, 57, of Scotchman Road, her older brother Shamrez Khan, 34, of Moore Avenue, all Bradford, and her sister Saima Mahmood, 30, and her brother-in-law Zahid Mahmood, 36, both of Empress Street, Accrington.

They all deny false imprisonment, kidnap and two charges of administering the drug lorazepam with intent, in January last year.

Jonathan Dickinson, prosecuting, said it would seem Mrs Afsar's family wanted her to marry her first cousin, who lived in Denmark.

She became engaged to him in November 2009, but realised they were not suited to one another and in July 2009, called it off.

He told the court her family was upset with her, and that was, perhaps, putting it mildly.

The alleged victim ran away from the family home and went to live with a friend in Newcastle, thinking the defendants could not reach her.

Mr Dickinson said whilst in Newcastle, she met Mr Saddiq, they got on well and were wed in November 2009 at a local Mosque, without her family knowing.

The family found out soon after and towards the end of November, Mrs Afsar visited the family home in Bradford with her new husband to introduce him to her family, in the hope of resolving their differences.

Mr Dickinson said it wasn't an overwhelming success, but Mrs Afsar said she would return to Bradford at the end of November, for Eid.

She did so and was put under a lot of pressure from her family, who were not happy about her broken engagement and marriage to a man they did not know or approve of.

The prosecutor said when the alleged victim went to Bradford for Eid, she was threatened and abused by her relatives, who wanted her to separate from Mr Saddiq or divorce him and start a relationship on a different footing, in accordance with their wishes.

Mrs Afsar would not put up with that and went to live in Newcastle with her husband, determined to have no more contact with her family.

On the morning of Sunday, January 17, last year, the couple were in bed at their home, when they heard banging on the doors and the door bell being rung continually, the court heard.

They heard Shamrez Khan shouting in an aggressive way and he then appeared in her bedroom.

The other defendants, apart from her father, were in the living room.

Mr Dickinson said Saima Mahmood took her sister to one side and told her everyone was missing her and her nieces were desperate to see her.

Mahmood tried to pressure her to go back to Accrington, promising no harm would come to her.

The alleged victim agreed to go with them and to stay just one night at their home.

At the Accrington property, everyone got on well, and said she would stay another night, Mr Dickinson said.

He said: "It seems that that evidence reveals that her sister Saima Mahmood used the closeness of their relationship really to trick her into coming back to Accrington and then staying, so that the family could exert more pressure on her with relation to her marriage and her relationship with Mr Saddiq."

Unbeknown to the alleged victim, her mother, her brother and brother-in-law had travelled back up to Newcastle in the middle of the night, confronted Mr Saddiq and collected Mrs Afsar's belongings, including her passport.

When Mrs Afsar awoke on Tuesday morning, she found she could not contact her husband.

Mr Dickinsons said it transpired Shamrez Khan had threatened Mr Saddiq, tried to punch him and told him his wife would be staying in Bradford and wouldn't be going back.

Mr Saddiq's mobile phone was taken off him.

Akhtar and Shamrez Khan then turned up in Accrington with the alleged victim's belongings and told her they had been up to Newcastle, spoken to Mr Saddiq and "effectively sorted him out”.

Shamrez Khan took his sister's mobile phone, hit her twice across the face and threatened to kill her, the court heard.

Saima Mahmood then persuaded her sister to have some warm milk.

Mrs Afsar then felt dizzy and was repeatedly sick.

The prosecutor said the alleged victim lost track of time and had very little recollection of the next few hours until police knocked on the window of the car she was in.

Mr Dickinson said: "According to the police, she appeared intoxicated, extremely drowsy and they thought she needed to be taken to hospital.

The hearing was told the defendants were arrested on January 20, were interviewed and all claimed they had only been trying to help Mrs Afsar out in resolving a domestic situation.

(PROCEEDING)

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