Serious accusations

In the name of honor: Who is Baby Melek’s mother covering up for?

The prominent Islam critic and human rights activist Sabatina James speaks out in the "Krone" newspaper and makes accusations.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/APA Picturedesk)

As a critic of Islam, Sabatina James fights against forced marriage and violence. The tragic death of little Melek in hospital in Vienna-Favoriten moves the prominent human rights activist. She made serious accusations about honor killings and the cruel pressure exerted by families to the "Krone" newspaper.

Her real story reads like an adventure novel. Sabatina James - she keeps her real name a secret - was born in Pakistan as the granddaughter of an imam. Even as a child, she felt it was a great injustice that women in her home village had to suffer under the rules of Sharia law. At the age of ten, she moved from Pakistan to Austria with her devout Muslim parents and siblings and grew up in the Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria. Due to her western attitude to life, she experienced more and more physical and bodily violence from her family. When she was 17, she was forcibly married to her cousin in Pakistan.