Escape from a forced 'marriage'

A 15-year-old girl was pressured to marry an abusive religious extremist

"I told him no, no, no!" said Gulbahar Arken, shaking her head forcefully as she recalled an argument with her father nearly eight years earlier.

The 23-year-old still has fear in her eyes when she speaks about the moment her father demanded she become the seventh "wife" of a so-called religious leader in her village in Kashgar prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

"I have questioned my father many times about why he did such a horrible thing to me, but I always get the same reply," she said.

The answer is that the man had told her father that his whole family would enter paradise if he allowed the marriage to take place. Gulbahar Arken's "husband" was 40 years older than her, and a key figure in the spread of religious extremism in their village in Kashgar's Duolaitibage township.

Gulbahar Arken still can't bring herself to forgive her father for forcing her into the marriage, in which she said she was physically and mentally abused.

The union took place in 2010, just after Gulbahar Arken graduated from junior high school at age 15. There was no legal registration, and only a brief religious ceremony was held. Her wedding dress was a black burqa, a gown that covers the entire body, and all forms of celebration, such as singing and dancing, were prohibited.