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 confining the victim for approximately 16 months, with the intent to force 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 related to 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 abide by their wishes,” according to the criminal complaint.
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 out of fear she could be forced to enter into a non-consensual marriage.
Both men then flew to Mexico to kidnap the victim and bring her back to the U.S. before conspiring to transport her from Buffalo to Yemen, where she was “held for more than a year, denied freedom of movement and communication, physically assaulted and had 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 of Buffalo, described how her father brutally beat her with his fists, feet and a belt to the point she thought she was going to die, reported local station WGRZ.
She only managed to escape in April 2023, at which point she was able to contact her fiancé, who reached out to authorities and the nonprofit Unchained at Last, a survivor-led organization dedicated to ending forced marriages.
She was eventually able to speak with 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 snatch her from federal agents.
A surveillance photo from that encounter was shown during trial.
On Friday, a federal jury convicted Khaled and Adham Abughanem on two counts each of conspiracy to kidnap a person in a foreign country, which could result in a life sentence.
Both men deny the accusations, according to The Buffalo News.
Another one of the victim’s brothers, 34-year-old Waleed Abughanem, pleaded guilty earlier this year to misprision of felony, which carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
Khaled and Adham Abughanem are scheduled to be sentenced on June 17, 2025.