Parents Beat And Poured Hot Oil On Teen For Not Agreeing To Forced Marriage

Maarib Al Hishmawi was 15 years old when her parents told her they'd found someone for her to marry. The man would pay the family $20,000 for the arrangement. Maarib balked at the prospect, and according to the San Antonio Express News, that's when the beating started. 

Not just ordinary physical beating, either. 

Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said she was choked to the point of unconsciousness at one point.

"This young lady, at various times over that time period was subjected to some pretty bad abuse because she didn't want to be married to this person," Salazar said. "Several times it was reported to us that this young lady was abused with hot cooking oil being thrown on her body. She was beat with broomsticks. At least at one point, she was choked almost to the point of unconsciousness."

In January, Maarib Al Hishmawi - now 16 - hatched a plan, and disappeared from Taft High School. At the time, her father Abdulah Fahmi Kala Al Hishmawi, who was a linguist for the States in Iraq before he brought his family, told ABC News that he thought someone harmed his daughter. 

“Something is wrong. My daughter, she got kidnapped or she is harmed. Somebody take her. Something is wrong, he said. “She had trouble with some students in school. They talked about her hijab, talk bad about her clothes. One day they pushed her on the floor.”

He told the news station he was frustrated with the local authorities response, and he was contacting the FBI. In early March, the FBI put her name and picture on its Facebook page. 

Authorities found Maarib Al Hishmawi in mid-March, and the Bexar County Sheriff's Office announced the arrests of her parents Abdulah Fahmi Kala Al Hishmawi and Hamdiyah Sabah Al Hishmawi, on charges of continuous violence against a family member. They were freed on bond on Sunday. 

Maarib Al Hishmawi, along with her five brothers and sisters, have been placed in state custody. Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar said it's highly likely the man who offered the money for the marriage will be charged as well. 

 [Photos: Bexar County Sheriff’s Office]