‘We failed’: how the tragic case of Ruqia Haidari could change the way Australia deals with forced marriage

Ruqia Haidari’s mother became the first person in Australia to be jailed for forced marriage, after the 21-year-old was murdered by the man she wed against her will. Photograph: supplied

Five months before she was murdered by her new husband, Ruqia Haidari met the Australian federal police and told them she was being forced into the marriage by her mother.

But the 20-year-old did not want the police – or the support workers who were also in the meeting, or any of the other people she spoke to about the impending marriage – to take the matter further.