It was in December 2019 that the father went with his wife and daughters, now 14 and 16 years old, to Iraq, writes Smålandsposten.
The plan was to marry off the older daughter to a man in January this year.
The little sister was also to be married off, according to the social services in Växjö, which had been involved in the repatriation.
Kept locked up
The mother and children were kept locked up during the trip and must also have been beaten.
With the help of the social services and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the mother and daughters finally managed to escape and return to Sweden, where they have now been placed at a protected address.
The father has also returned to Sweden, which has resulted in a temporary travel ban for the two girls.
- We have worked to get the girls and the mother home.
When the father came home, it became clear that this will not go well, says Per Sandberg, head of administration for work and welfare in Växjö municipality, to Smålandsposten.
New law allows for bans
The travel ban has been issued thanks to a new law that will prevent children from being taken abroad to be genitally mutilated or married off.
- It gives us a space to be able to act and help the family and the children in this case, says Per Sandberg to the newspaper.
According to the National Competence Team against Honor-Related Violence, a total of 48 people have been abducted or detained in another country from June to September this year, as Kvällposten previously reported.
Of them, 41 were children.