The appellate court in eastern Nangarhar province has sentenced a man to 17 years in prison for forcibly marrying two sisters at once

AVA- Months ago, the convict, Wilayat Khan, married Marwa in Khewa district of Nangarhar, but he accused his wife of losing virginity before their marriage and forcibly married his sister-in-law next morning.

Marwa and her family had accused Wilayat Khan and his 14 family members of the forced marriage and had demanded justice.

The verdict in the case was handed down a day earlier at a hearing in the appellate court headed by the court head Justice Abdul Wali Qazizada, the court said in a statement.

Journalists had not been invited to the hearing. The statement said the three-judge panel also including Justice Gul Sharif and Justice Abdul Matin convicted Wilayat Khan to 17 years in jail in the forced marriage case.

Defense lawyers, the attorney concerned, judicial officials and parties in the case were present at the hearing, the statement said.

The jury also sentenced Wilayat Khan’s father Rassoul Dad to 16 years in jail and another person, Ghulam Nabi aka Junbish 16 years in jail in the case.

The imam, Mullah Abdul Rahman, who performed the nikah while he was not informed about the first nikah, was acquitted in the case for a lack of evidence.

A fifth person in the case was also acquitted and announced the sentences were not final and could be challenged.

Last solar year, Ministry of Interior investigation chief Abdul Ghafar Syedzada travelled to Khewa district and met with Wilayat Khan, his father, his second wife and the imam, who performed the nikah as part of investigation into the case.

At the time, Wilayat Khan had said: “It was midnight when I realized she is not virgin, so I called to her grandfather who willingly said Marhaba instead of Marwa will be given to him in Nikah and it was done the next morning.”

After three days of his second marriage, the imam told Wilayat that their Nikah was not legitimate and he had to wait for three months and 50 days to enter the wedlock with the second wife and he did so.