Forced Marriage Survivor Shares Harrowing Tale in New Memoir

In her book "All Guilty. They Forced Me to Marry" (Éditions Balland), Nour recounts how her family forced her to marry nearly 20 years ago. Having received a "traditional upbringing of Maghrebi families," Nour had no boyfriends. During the summer vacation in Morocco at the age of 18, her relatives tell her that she will marry her cousin. "My cousin told me I was going to marry my cousin. I laughed. My sister insisted," she recounts to Actu.

"I had known him since I was little. He was like my brother," confesses Nour, who says she protested against this union. But her father threatens her: "Marry or I swear, you’ll stay here." Against her will, the marriage procedures were initiated. Quickly, a certificate of virginity was established and she was married before the imam and the mayor. "I signed the documents. I didn’t understand anything," she explains.

Her husband then settles with them in France. "It was to get the papers, that’s all," Nour estimates. The couple sleep in separate rooms, but that didn’t prevent the husband from abusing her "twice." She then decides to leave "the house of horror" to take refuge with a friend. Members of her family find her on the street, take her by force and bring her back home.

Once home, her husband beats her, to the point of fainting. "My girlfriends at school really felt that something was wrong in my life. I kept quiet," she confesses. The husband finally grants her the divorce, a year after the marriage. Nour’s book is drawn from the diary she kept throughout this long nightmare. Its publication is a kind of therapy for her, as she is still having a hard time recovering from this bad experience.