By her father and brother.

I’ll confess to being a Harry Potter fan. I read the books as they came out. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to see me waiting outside a bookstore before opening once or twice (then again, I also do that for Ann Coulter’s books.) Either way, I was familiar with Padma Patil, the character from the Potter books and movies played by 22-year old actress Afshan Azad.

Now, Azad has had to escape to London, England from an attempted murder by her 54-year old father Abdul (of course) and her 28-year old brother Ashraf.

The reason? Well, I’m sure it has nothing to do with her father and brother being Muslim and disapproving of her relationship with a Hindu man. Oh yeah, it does.

Azad has been fortunate enough to become a part of the most successful franchise in recent memory, launching a career in acting while still pursuing a university degree so that she can enter into journalism, and for doing nothing wrong she has to escape an honor killing? I thank God that she wasn’t one of the countless victims who haven’t been so lucky.

Amusingly, despite her brother’s interest in her being dead, he still wanted her was looking out for her:

We are going to get trouble from the community now. It is bad news for our safety, her safety. My younger brother is going to get harassed at college. All our family is going to be harassed by the community because of this. Her career could be ruined. When she goes to a premiere or something, they are going to ask her about this not about the film.

Jerk.

UPDATE: Apparently she has now issued a statement saying she doesn’t want them to go to jail. My guess? Coercion from relatives…that seems to be a pattern with these people. Fortunately, the prosecution is still proceeding.