UK: Muslim parents forced their 10-year-old daughter to wear a hijab to conceal the bruises they inflicted on her

Image: Jihad Watch

A court has heard that 10-year-old schoolgirl Sara Sharif was forced to wear a hijab to hide her injuries and was homeschooled in the months leading up to her tragic death. 

Sara “suffered dreadfully” from severe abuse, including burns from an iron, bites, and having a plastic bag taped over her head before she was discovered dead in her family home in Woking, Surrey, on August 10 of last year. 

Neighbours reported hearing sounds of smacking and “gut-wrenching screams” coming from the residence in the years prior to her death, according to the Old Bailey. This shouting was often accompanied by a woman yelling phrases like “Shut the fuck up” and “Go to your room, you fucking bastard.” 

Sara’s father, Urfan Sharif, 42, her stepmother, Beinash Batool, 30, and her uncle, Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of subjecting her to a violent “campaign of abuse” before her death on August 8. 

The court learned that the defendants fled to Pakistan the next day, after which Sharif called the police to admit that he had beaten Sara “too much” for misbehaviour. He also left a note by her fully clothed body, claiming, “I swear to God that my intention was not to kill her. But I lost it.” 

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones KC stated that Sara began wearing a hijab in January 2023 “to conceal injuries to her face and head from the outside world.” Neighbours found this unusual, noting she was the only family member to wear a hijab. 

Sara was withdrawn from school on April 17, 2023, and homeschooled after teachers reported observing bruises on her on three separate occasions. In a second incident on March 10, 2023, her teacher, Helen Simmons, noticed distinct bruises on Sara’s chin and right eye and asked about them. 

Emlyn Jones remarked, “Sara acted coy and tried to hide them. Miss Simmons observed that Sara would often pull her hijab to cover her face when she didn’t want to speak or was being reprimanded. Sara provided multiple conflicting accounts regarding the origins of her bruises.”

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)