Schoolgirl who converted to Islam 'ran away from home after getting married over the phone to older man she had never met'

A schoolgirl who secretly converted to Islam left home to live with an older man after being forced to marry him over the phone, it was claimed today.
The 15-year-old, whose British father is a Christian, is set to give evidence against seven men arrested in Mulhouse, eastern France.
All are accused of removing a child from her parents' care while running a sinister online dating site for Muslim converts.
After being introduced to young girls on the internet, men who subscribed to the site were allowed to wed them over the phone.

Abduction: A girl ran away from her home in the French town of Mulhouse, pictured, to marry an older man

In the case of the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, she completed her marriage vows and then immediately left home to live with him.
Detectives believe she was forced to convert to Islam in secret, along with three female friends aged 17, 18 and 19.

The girl's father informed local prosecutor Herve Robin after his daughter started wearing a burka and expressing 'extreme Islamist views', according to prosecutors.
'She had converted without her parents' knowledge after browsing social network sites on the internet,' said a source close to the case. 'Her father, who is British, was deeply shocked when he found out what had happened.'
Mr Robin confirmed that the schoolgirl was forced to marry the unnamed Muslim man, who is 28, 'over the phone'.

Convert: The girl had become a Muslim before being apparently abducted by a criminal gang (file photo)

It was on May 6 that the girl's father first called police to tell them that his daughter had run away.
Using a signal from the 28-year-old man's mobile phone, police were able to trace him to an address in Valence, some 300 miles from the girl's home in Mulhouse.
When police raided the property they found the man living with his new teenage 'wife'.
She told investigating officers that it was her second 'marriage' on the site, and that her 'first husband' had denounced and rejected her.
The girl is now back in the care of her parents, while assisting police and prosecutors with their enquiries.
Her convert 'husband' has, meanwhile, been remanded in custody, along with four of the seven other suspects who all face prison sentences if found guilty.
Redad Rabih, a spokesman for the Muslim regional council in Mulhouse, said: 'Islam and the Muslim community had nothing to do with these despicable practices.'
He added that such internet sites, together with the abuse of young girls, made a 'mockery' of Islam.

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