An upstate New York father and his adult son have been convicted in a kidnapping and forced marriage plot involving their daughter and sister, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Khaled Abughanem, 52, and Adham Abughanem, 28, both of Lackawanna, just south of Buffalo, were convicted of imprisoning the victim for about 16 months with the intention of forcing her into an arranged marriage in Yemen.
The young Abughanem was also convicted of threatening to “slaughter” his sister in retaliation for information she gave to a law enforcement officer regarding the case.
Investigators say the victim’s family “tricked” her into traveling from New York to Yemen in an attempt to force her into an arranged marriage. The Abughanems also “discussed killing her if she did not comply with their wishes,” the complaint said.
The family’s plan to force the victim into marriage began in September 2021. The young woman had traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico to stay with her fiancé, fearing that she could be forced into a non-consensual marriage .
Both men then flew to Mexico to kidnap the victim and bring her back to the US before conspiring to transport her from Buffalo to Yemen, where she was “held for more than a year, denied freedom of movement and communication, was physically attacked and her life threatened,” said Trini E. Ross, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of New York.
In the trial earlier this month, the woman, a former architecture student at the University at Buffalo, described how her father brutally beat her with his fists, feet and a belt to the point where she thought she was going to die, local station WGRZ reported. .
She did not escape until April 2023, after which she was able to contact her fiancé, who contacted authorities and the nonprofit Unchained at Last, a survivor-led organization dedicated to ending forced marriages.
She was eventually able to speak to the FBI, who arranged for her to fly back to New York from Yemen. But when she finally landed at JFK on April 6, 2023, the woman’s sister seemingly appeared out of nowhere and tried to take her away from federal agents.
A surveillance photo of that encounter was shown during the trial.
On Friday, a federal jury convicted Khaled and Adham Abughanem on two counts each of conspiring to kidnap someone abroad, which could result in a life sentence.
Both men deny the allegations, according to The Buffalo News.
Another brother of the victim, 34-year-old Waleed Abughanem, pleaded guilty earlier this year to misdemeanor criminal mischief, which carries a maximum prison sentence of three years and a $250,000 fine.
Khaled and Adham Abughanem are expected to be sentenced on June 17, 2025.
