Father denies forcing three daughters on “re-education trip” to Somalia

A 57-year-old man pleaded not guilty in Aarhus District Court on Tuesday to charges of sending his three daughters on a coercive “re-education trip” to Somalia, where the eldest testified they endured years of violence and isolation, DR reports.

The 18-year-old daughter told the court through tears that she and her two younger sisters—now 16 and 11—were taken to Somalia in 2022 under the pretense of a vacation to Kenya. Once there, their passports and phones were confiscated, and they were forbidden from speaking Danish, she said.

“Our father yelled at us constantly over the smallest things. We were beaten for periods—sometimes for things we did when we were little, like playing football with boys in Denmark,” she testified. She described being struck with cables, water hoses, or whatever was available, adding, “He never really liked me. It was worst for me.”

The two eldest sisters returned to Denmark in late February with assistance from Danish authorities, while the youngest, 11, remains in Somalia. The case was initially reported to police in September 2025 by the girls’ half-siblings.

Daughters believed they were going on holiday

The eldest daughter explained that in 2019, their father gained custody after their mother fell seriously ill. The parents had never lived together, and the girls had primarily resided with their mother until moving in with their father.

“I was never really safe there. I often ran away—I wanted to be with my mother,” she said. In June 2022, she was told they were going on holiday to Kenya, but their father took them instead to Somalia, his birthplace. “I told him school was starting in August, but he said, ‘You won’t be going to school,’” she recalled.

In Somalia, they were confined to Quranic studies at home with no formal education. “He said we’d never go back,” she testified, adding that he threatened her with being shot by guards or having her legs broken if she resisted. The girls’ passports were locked away, though the eldest occasionally contacted the Danish embassy and her half-siblings.

Father claims trip was for cultural education

The father, a disability pensioner, denied all charges, insisting the trip was to teach his daughters Somali language and culture. “My children were to have the best, and I gave 120 percent to ensure that,” he told the court, adding they were meant to stay until they mastered Somali and the Quran.

When the prosecutor asked why the girls couldn’t learn these things in Denmark, the father replied, “They spoke Danish with their siblings—it’s normal in Denmark.” He denied threats of forced marriage or female genital mutilation, calling such practices “against my faith.”

The court viewed a September 2025 video, recorded days after the father’s arrest, in which the three daughters—seated in their Somali home—denied abuse. The eldest said, “I said things when I was angry at him for missing my mother. They weren’t true. We’re fine, there are no problems.” The middle daughter added, “We really miss our father.”

The trial continues as prosecutors weigh the conflicting accounts.