Fifty-six-year-old Ali Safaraei and his wife Mitra Eidiani are charged with threats and coercive behavior towards their 18-year-old daughter Sophia; Safaraei told the court that he had tried to shield her "away from any danger and bad friends and social media" but "unfortunately failed," The Sun newspaper reported.
Sophia reported the abuse to the police in May. The ethnically Iranian couple instructed the girl to visit the local doctor for a “virginity test” against her will after catching her with a secret 18-year-old boyfriend in their house, who escaped. According to the girl, her parents threatened to kill her and forced her to go to the doctor for a “virginity test,” she said in a message to her friend. The doctor, however, refused to carry out the inspection without her permission. Upon returning home, her parents pushed her around; her father threatened her with a knife and her mother bit her. They also allegedly took away her passport and suggested that she would be sent away to Iran to marry a cousin.
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The boy told the court, that his girlfriend’s mother confronted him at his workplace, warned him not to come near her daughter again and threatened that her husband was going to kill him.
“She went on to say that she is a Muslim and her husband is a Muslim and 'you have seen what our people do on the news and stuff, we’re dangerous people, be careful,'” he revealed during the trial.
The father and mother are charged with two counts of controlling behavior and death threats, but have denied these accusations.
According to the dad, who is originally from Iran and has lived in the UK for 30 years, he wanted to make sure his daughter hadn’t been raped or harmed in any kind. He insisted that he hadn’t forced her to undergo a "virginity test,” but only mentioned a check.
According to The Telegraph, they are the first parents to face trial under the law, which was introduced three years ago to shield partners from psychological abuse.