Harry Potter actress was threatened with death, 'beaten and branded a prostitute by her family after dating man who was not a Muslim'

From the Daily Mail:

Star: Afshan Azad, 22, pictured last month at the premiere of the latest Harry Potter movie, The Deathly Hallows

A Harry Potter actress was beaten, called a 'slag' and threatened with death by members of her family after she met a young man who was not a Muslim, a court heard today.

Victim Afshan Azad, 22, played Padma Patil, a classmate of the teenage wizard, in the blockbuster Hollywood films based on the children's books by JK Rowling.

She was assaulted and branded a 'prostitute' after meeting a young Hindu man, a relationship which brought anger from her father, Abul Azad, 53, and brother, Ashraf, 28, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The frightened star, who has featured in four of the popular films, later fled through her bedroom window after threats were made to kill her.

But despite attempts to get her to come to court for the trial of her father and brother, Miss Azad, who is believed to be living with friends in London, would not attend voluntarily, the court was told.

Both men were charged with making threats to kill her and her brother was also charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm on his sister.

Instead of both going on trial today, the prosecution decided to accept a guilty plea of assault by her brother, and both men were formally found not guilty of making threats to kill.

Miss Azad's character was a witch who was in the same year as Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

She first appeared as her character, the identical twin sister of Parvati Patil, in Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

She also starred in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the final film in the saga.

Richard Vardon QC, prosecuting, told the court: 'The incident took place on Saturday 21 of May at the home address of the family in Longsight, Manchester.

'The prosecution allegation in essence is she was the victim of a wholly unnecessary and unpleasant assault by her brother.

'The reason for the assault, apparently her association with a Hindu young man, that apparently being disapproved of by her family who are Muslim.

'Specifically she spoke not only of assault but also threats to kill, made jointly by her father and brother.'
The prosecutor then gave details of the incident.

'The father, having been awoken from his slumbers, with his son shouting: "Sort out your daughter! She's a slag!"

Appearance: Brother Ashraf (left) and father Abul (right) arrive at Manchester Crown Court today

'He continued to further assault her, in disputed Bengali, shouting, "Just kill her!"

'The assault continued. There was a discussion where she was being called a prostitute.'

The threats to kill her apparently continued, the witness told police in a statement.

Reading from the victim's statement, Mr Vardon added: 'My father began saying he would do it, a reference to kill her, as he did not want his sons to have her blood on their hands and he would do time for it.

(Pastorius note: That's Islamic self-sacrifice for you, huh?)

'Then she began to feel very scared.

'Having gone to the police in respect of these matters she made a statement to the police on 22nd of May.
'Part of her version of events was that he was going to force the complainant into a forced marriage of some sort.'

However, after going to police she 'made it plain' to officers and lawyers that she did not want any action taken against her family, or the arrest of her father or brother otherwise it would put her in 'genuine danger'.

'She came to police for help and support, and the arrest of her family members would not be of assistance,' Mr Vardon added.

The prosecutor said she later made 'retraction statements' to police and reiterated her lack of willingness to support any prosecution.

She also 'put a gloss' on her father's words by saying she found it hard to understand his heavy Bengali accent so could not be sure what he had said.