Martina Navratilova outraged over Pakistani national citing 'Sharia law' to defend sexual assault of 14-year-old girl in Britain

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has expressed her outrage over a resurfaced video showing a Pakistani national justifying his attempt to sexually harass a 14-year-old girl in the United Kingdom. The viral video highlighted the issue of Pakistani grooming gangs in the UK.

In the undated video, the Pakistani man defends his actions by claiming that marrying a 14-year-old girl is not a crime in his country. He further tries to excuse his behavior by stating that he is new to the United Kingdom and unaware of its laws.

"I am new to this country, I am not aware of the laws here," the Pakistani national could be heard saying in the video. "In Muslim countries, one can marry 14-year-old girls. There is a country’s law and then there is Sharia which overrides those laws. I follow Sharia law."

Martina Navratilova, known for her strong advocacy for women's rights, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express her disgust, writing:

"Culture my a**. Just because something is cultural doesn’t make it right."

The video resurfacing comes amid growing scrutiny of the UK's response to Pakistani grooming gangs, especially after American billionaire Elon Musk criticized the British government for not addressing child sexual abuse cases.

---

Martina Navratilova outraged by report of 9-year-old Afghan girl forced to marry 55-year-old man

Martina Navratilova during the 2024 Laureus World Sports Awards press conference (Image source: Getty)

Martina Navratilova has voiced her anger regarding a disturbing video depicting the forced marriage of a nine-year-old girl to a 55-year-old man in Afghanistan.

A 2021 CNN report brought to light the tragic story of nine-year-old Parwana, who was sold into marriage by her father to a 55-year-old man for 200,000 Afghanis (about $2,200) due to serious financial struggles.

Navratilova reshared the video on X (formerly Twitter) in December 2024, denouncing the situation.

"Monsters, all of them who allow this," Martina Navratilova wrote.

In other news, Navratilova strongly criticized the Taliban's ban on Afghan women studying medicine. This restriction was announced in December 2024 by Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada through Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health. The 18-time Grand Slam singles champion described their actions as "evil" in a powerful condemnation of their repressive policies.

Since the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in 2021, women's rights have been severely undermined. Their repressive measures have included a ban on girls attending higher education and restricting school attendance to below the sixth grade.