Brother jailed for ‘nasty’ attack on Harry Potter star

THE brother of a Harry Potter star was jailed for six months yesterday for a “prolonged and nasty” attack in which she was beaten and branded a “slag” for dating a non-Muslim.

Afshan Azad, 21, who played Padma Patil, a classmate of the teenage wizard, in the blockbuster Hollywood films based on JK Rowling’s children’s books, feared for her life during the three-hour ordeal, Manchester Crown Court heard.

She was punched, dragged around by her hair and strangled by her brother Ashraf Azad, 28, who threatened to kill her after he caught her talking on the phone to her Hindu boyfriend on May 21 last year, the court was told.

During the row at the family home in Manchester, which also involved her mother and father, she was branded a “slag” and a “prostitute” and told: “Marry a Muslim or you die!”

The actress, who now lives in London, had pleaded for leniency from the court, begging the judge not to jail him.

But Judge Roger Thomas QC jailed him for six months after he pleaded guilty.

“This persistent attack was accompanied by serious and very hurtful abuse and threats,” he told the defendant. “The background to this offence lies in the concern you had about Afshan’s relationship with a young man not of the Islamic faith.”

The judge added: “This is a sentence designed to punish you for what you did and also to send out a clear message to others that domestic violence cannot be tolerated.”