A woman named Sameera has been locked up in detention waiting to be deported after being married off, abused, and forced to have an abortion in Sweden. Now she fears for her life if she returns to Pakistan. Her family has cut off contact and she is alone, taking various medications to deal with her anxiety. Sameera’s story is sadly not unique – many women who come to Sweden in arranged marriages become completely dependent on the men who brought them there, and are often abused and mistreated. Additionally, the government’s decision to remove the provision on particularly painful circumstances may make it even harder for women exposed to violence to obtain a residence permit. Sameera’s future is uncertain, and she has never been allowed to decide her own life.
LJUNGBYHED. Sameera was married off, subjected to abuse and forced to have an abortion in Sweden.
Now she is locked up in detention – waiting to be deported.
– My family will kill me if I go back, she says.
In the bare visiting room at the storage facility in Ljungbyhed in Scania, Sameera rattles off the medications she has to take, several for anxiety. Oxascand, Atarax, Propavan, Mirtazapine, Zopiclone, Naproxen, Omeprazole… On several occasions she has broken down and been picked up by ambulance.
She just wants to be able to sleep.
That the man who took her to Sweden has his freedom, while she is locked up as a criminal, leaves her no peace.
– Why am I here? While he lives his life and is free, she says, over and over.
Someone from the staff at the depot has given Sameera a teddy bear. They are worried about her well-being.
Even on her wedding night at home in Pakistan six years ago, she felt that something was wrong.
The man traveled from Sweden and picked her up
Their families had agreed on the marriage.
The man who traveled all the way from Sweden to pick her up was harsh. Sameera had no experience of physical intimacy, not of anything at all.
Her world existed only within the walls of the home. As a Pakistani woman from the religious middle class, she was tightly held and had barely gone outside on her own.
Now she asked to avoid being married off.
But the father was relentless.
– I thought my father would support me, we have a good relationship, but no one listened. Dad said I will kill you and commit suicide if you don’t go, she says.
Suddenly she was on a plane to Sweden and a man she didn’t know.
– I was so scared when I came to Sweden. I had never flown before, only getting between home and school.
The gynecologist’s office had the husband translate during the visit, Sameera speaks fluent English herself. She was tricked into taking abortion pills.
Sameera is afraid that her father will kill her if she returns to Pakistan. She is divorced, single and has had an abortion.
Life in the terraced house in the Stockholm suburb where she eventually ended up, became a different kind of captivity.
Left to her new husband and his family, Sameera was alone in the new country. The family shouted at her and treated her disrespectfully, she says. Threatened that she would be sent back to Pakistan if she didn’t keep quiet. Sameera was given times to fit in if she would only shop at Lidl.
Dependent on her husband
Just like many women who come here in arranged marriages – they become completely dependent on the men who brought them here, says Anne Saarinen from Botkyrka women’s shelter, who first came into contact with Sameera several years ago.
– The man has often promised lots of things and a good life, but right from the first week the abuse starts. The woman has no knowledge of the country, no contacts and does not know the language, says Anne Saarinen.
When Sameera first contacted the women’s shelter, she was sad and depressed. She was about to tell her husband that she was pregnant but was worried about how he would react.
They made a plan. Staff from the women’s center would pick her up at a certain place at a certain time, if there was a conflict at home regarding the pregnancy.
But Sameera got in touch in the evening with a text message: “Everything is fine. Don’t worry”
But soon it would appear that all was not well at home.
The man was not happy. And Sameera was subjected to yet another abuse – an abortion, against her will.
Was tricked into having an abortion
Documents from Ivo, the Inspectorate for Care and Care, show that Sameera did not understand what happened at that visit to the midwife. She thought it was a routine pregnancy check. But the husband interpreted the conversation, Sameera knew no Swedish. The fact that she speaks fluent English was not noticed. Then and there she was tricked into taking abortion pills.
“Thus, she was treated without knowledge and against her will with drugs that led to an irreversible consequence, that is, the termination of her pregnancy,” writes Ivo in his decision.
The authority criticized the gynecologist’s office for not hiring a proper interpreter and ensuring that Sameera understood what intervention was being done on her body.
Afterwards, Sameera suffered from bleeding, fainting and severe complications.
– I felt terrible, like a bitch, because I had trusted my husband, she says.
– Everyone said I should move on in life, but how can you move on? I lost my child, everything.
He compared it to eating the same food all the time – and after a while you want to eat another dish.
Several people around her confirm to Aftonbladet that Sameera was in such bad shape after the procedure that she would need trauma treatment. But she never got one. Instead, the husband explained that after only a few years he had grown tired of her and asked for a divorce. After all, Sameera was no longer a virgin – she was replaceable, like a wear-and-throw commodity.
– He compared it to eating the same food all the time – and after a while you want to eat another dish, says Sameera.
Now her new fight began – to avoid returning to her homeland.
Tougher rules affect women
Several women’s shelters we have been in contact with describe how the vulnerability surrounding so-called “wife importation” has increased.
Previously, after two years, the woman could get a permanent residence permit, stand on her own two feet and be free from a destructive relationship.
Now she only gets a temporary residence permit, two years at a time. If she separates from her husband, she must also prove that she has the right to stay in Sweden and also be able to support herself.
– Continued residence permit can be granted if the woman succeeds in making it probable that violence was the reason for the end of the relationship. Or that the woman has gained a special connection to Sweden, which can be difficult for women in this situation to achieve, says Anna-Pia Beier, lawyer at the Asylum Rights Centre.
The note waiting for Sameera on the pillow was a handwritten message from the Swedish Migration Agency: “Time to pack”.
Someone in the staff has given Sameera a teddy bear. She takes several medications for her anxiety.
Going forward, it may become even more difficult for women exposed to violence to obtain a residence permit.
The current government wants to completely remove the provision on particularly painful circumstances. It has previously been used to protect many.
– If you are afraid of being deported, then you stay in a violent relationship. Many of these women have no idea what their rights are, says Anne Saarinen, from Botkyrka women’s shelter.
Difficult to return home
In the meantime, the man may have sent reports about how bad the woman has been to the home country. Rumors spread quickly via social media.
– Many women come back to a family that distrusts them, says Anne Saarinen.
Sameera is terrified of what will happen to her if she lands in Pakistan again. A country which, according to the Swedish government, is characterized by honor violence and ends up at the bottom when it comes to women’s rights.
The fact that she is divorced, single and has undergone an abortion could lead to her family or her ex-husband’s family having to kill her, Sameera believes. Her brothers have cut off contact and refuse to talk to her.
– I know that father has pressure from society, from the family. Women are not allowed to live alone in Pakistan, says Sameera.
She does not know when and how the expulsion will take place. Daily this uncertainty, which requires more anxiety pills. Sameera is once again a prisoner – her fate in the hands of others. She has never been allowed to decide on her own life.
Locked up for months
One day she came to her asylum and found a note on the pillow.
An official from the Swedish Migration Agency had been inside her apartment and left a message.
”Time to pack your things, Migration!” it said.
Sweden has room for criminals and perpetrators, but not for their victims?
Since then she has been locked up in the storage facility in Ljungbyhed. Over two months now.
– I felt that everything was over when I was taken to the storage facility. It would be better to just die. Sweden has room for criminals and perpetrators, but not for victims?
Dressed in gray soft overalls and slippers, she lives in the women’s section, where you sleep in bunk beds, four women in the same room.
Not much happens here. Bingo on Sundays and an hour’s outing at the small rest farm every day. When the Ombudsman, JO, reviewed the Migration Agency’s detention center in 2019, the Ljungbyhed facility was described as the worst. Criticism was raised against the cramped environment and the limited outdoor activities.
Re-establishment grants do not help
Sameera says she has been offered SEK 30,000 in re-establishment grants. According to the government and SD, the subsidy should be the carrot to get thousands more people to return home.
– What am I going to use their money for, if I am killed? I am educated, the economy is not the problem, she says.
After the divorce, Sameera has been locked in the detention center for over two months.
A few weeks after Aftonbladet’s interview, Sameera is released from custody due to health problems. She still does not know when the deportation will take place.
I stood in here and cried, there is still no freedom out there.
In the visitors’ room there is an empty cot, for the small children who are locked up here or who come to visit, perhaps to say goodbye to a parent. The gray minibuses line up in front of the high fence, waiting to drive someone to the airport or to the psychologist.
One day, big beautiful snowflakes fell outside the window.
– The staff opened the door and told me to come out for a while. But I stood here and cried, there is still no freedom out there, says Sameera.
Then she repeats the question, which has no comforting answers.
– What am I doing here?
Footnote: A few weeks after our interview, Sameera gets in touch and tells us that she has been released from custody, due to her health problems. The Swedish Migration Agency no longer considers it necessary to keep her locked up pending deportation. She still does not know when it will be implemented.
