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Zana Muhsen

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Zana Muhsen
Born1965 (age 58–59)
Birmingham,England
OccupationAuthor
SubjectNon-fiction
Notable worksSold: Story of Modern-day Slavery, A Promise to Nadia

Zana Muhsen(born in 1965 inBirmingham,England), is a British author known for her bookSold: Story of Modern-day Slaveryand its follow-upA Promise to Nadia.[1]The books narrate the experiences that she and her sister Nadia (born 1966) went through after they were sold into marriage by their father, Muthanna Muhsen, a Yemeniémigré.[2][3][4]

Overview[edit]

In the books and in interviews, Muhsen states that she and her sister had been sent to Yemen under the assumption that they were going on holiday to meet the paternal side of their family. Muhsen asserts that neither she nor her sister were aware of their father's plans, although her sister Nadia says that her father showed her a photograph of her future husband, Mohammed, in the UK, and that she knew she was going to be married.[2]

On their arrival inMaqbanah,Zana, 15 and Nadia, 13 learned fromAbdul Khadathat she was the spouse of a teenage son of the father's friend. Zana lived in a town called Hockail and Nadia lived in Ashube. Their mother, Miriam Ali, an English woman, appealed unsuccessfully to theForeign Officefor assistance, but was told that the Yemeni government had stated that as they were now married to Yemeni men, they could only leave the country with their husbands' permission.[2][5]

In 1987, anObserverjournalist,Eileen McDonald, visited the girls and wrote a series of articles portraying the Muhsens as cruelly-treated slaves. The girls begged McDonald, and her male photographer, to help them leave the country, and the media coverage provoked an outcry in theUK.[2][6]This led to the Yemeni government giving the Muhsens permission to leave the country in 1988, but forbade them from taking their children (Zana had one child, Marcus, Cyan and Leam, and Nadia three, Haney and Tina are two of them).[2][5][7]

Zana Muhsen remained in England and in 1992, wroteSold: Story of Modern-day Slaverywith theghostwriterAndrew Crofts,describing her experiences.[8]It became an international bestseller and was dramatised byBBC Radio 4.[9]The picture of a veiled woman on the cover ofSoldis Nadia Muhsen. In 2001, Zana Muhsen and Crofts wrote a follow-up,A Promise to Nadia - the true story of a British slave.Nadia Muhsen gave an interview to Melanie Finn, a journalist forThe Guardian,in 2002 in which she stated that she was happy with her life, saying, "It was never in my mind that I wanted to leave. It's just my sister, she wasn't comfortable."[2]

According to Zana's Instagram in 2015, Nadia and her children (including Marcus) had made it to England.[10]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Sold: Story of Modern-day Slavery(1994)
  • A Promise to Nadia'(2000)[11]

Further reading[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Father tricks daughters into far-off marriages".The Lewiston Journal.6 January 1988.Retrieved9 April2013.
  2. ^abcdefFinn, Melanie (1 April 2002)."Nadia's choice".The Guardian.Guardian Newspapers.Retrieved21 September2007.
  3. ^Ware, Vron (December 1992). "Moments of Danger: Race, Gender, and Memories of Empire".History and Theory.31(4). History and Theory, Vol. 31, No. 4: 116–137.doi:10.2307/2505418.JSTOR2505418.
  4. ^"The danger of westerners being slaves to arrogance".The Herald - Glasgow.2 April 2002.Retrieved9 April2013.
  5. ^ab"Nadia Muhsin: The Mystery Unveiled".Yemen Times.31 January 2000. Archived fromthe originalon 9 January 2008.Retrieved21 September2007.
  6. ^"Unwilling Brides From Birmingham Stranded In Yemen".The Sydney Morning Herald.22 December 1987.Retrieved9 April2013.
  7. ^"Tears as the 'slave brides' see mum".Evening Times.5 January 1988.Retrieved9 April2013.
  8. ^Walker, Duncan (21 May 2004)."I'm a celebrity, get me a ghost writer".BBC News Magazine.BBC.Retrieved21 September2007.
  9. ^Crofts, Andrew."Sold".Archived fromthe originalon 7 June 2007.Retrieved21 September2007.
  10. ^"Zana Muhsen on Instagram:" With love, Zana. "".Instagram.30 July 2015.Retrieved12 April2023.
  11. ^"Zana still suffering the sins of the father".Independent (Ireland).Retrieved9 April2013.