The family of a Druze woman who secretly married a Sunni Muslim man outside her faith dragged the new groom into the square of their Lebanese village then brutally beat him and severed his penis, according to Lebanese media reports. This because the bride’s family was so angry she had married outside the Druze religion.

The victim, 39-year-old Rabih Ahmad told Al-Jadeed TV that the attackers were his wife’s father and brother, adding “they cut it off to set an example.”

Ahmad met Rudayna Melaab, 19, on Facebook, according to An Nahar. The two eloped earlier this month and were married by a Sunni sheikh in keeping with the groom’s faith.

The Lebanon Daily Star reported the couple lied to the bride’s family, telling them Ahmad was also Druze like them. Melaab’s family learned the truth after the marriage and after the couple had already moved in together. The Lebanese paper reported the bride’s family then set a trap for their new son-in-law:

After expressing their outrage, Melaab’s family then called and invited the newlyweds to dinner in Baysour under the pretense of reconciling and honoring the marriage.

Instead, the woman’s relatives, led by her brother, who is reportedly a soldier in the Lebanese Army, kidnapped Melaab and dragged Ahmad to the main square of Baysour where they beat him and cut off his penis. According to local news reports, Ahmad arrived at the hospital in critical condition, his penis missing and his testicles ruptured.

An Nahar reports that the relatives also pulled out several of the groom’s teeth in the attack which took place last Monday.

According to a translation provided by the Australian news agency AAP, a security source told An Nahar, “He would have been killed if residents of the area hadn’t intervened.”

His family called the attack “an unpardonable and hideous crime.”

A resident of the village of Baysour told the Daily Star that the newlywed bride and her male relatives haven’t been seen since the attack.

The Druze community is a religious minority in Lebanon as well as in Syria and Israel in which interfaith marriage is considered to be rare.