Domestic violence is prevalent in places like Afghanistan and the Middle East. Maybe that has to do with the fact that the Quran says it's okay to beat your wife, or wives. Yes, some will quibble about what that actually means, claiming men should only use something like a toothbrush to punish disobedient spouses, but that's usually not the case. Some men maim or kill their wives for disobeying them. Like Azim, the Afghan man who just chopped off his 30-year-old wife Sitara's lips and nose in front of their kids because refused to sell her jewelry to pay for his heroin fix. He left her there bleeding, and fled like a coward.
People have rallied around Sitara, and she is now getting treatment and reconstructive surgery in Turkey, but Azim has yet to be found.
This is what happens to females in a religious and cultural society that has no respect for women. According to RFE/RL Afghanistan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. And can you blame them? They live in a world where they are forced into marriage at a very young age, most are not allowed to go to school or work, they are bred like animals, hidden under burqas, and beaten and abused. Some are forced into prostitution. What kind of life is that? They live lives with no hope.
According to Sitara's 14-year-old daughter Fereshta, Azim was a long time drug abuser and would often beat the kids and his wife:
"Every time my mother refused to give money to my father, he would beat her."
One of the problems is that in spite of the fact that in 2009 Afghanistan implemented an Elimination of Violence Against Women law, which includes criminalizing child marriage, violence against women etc., abusers are rarely prosecuted.
More here.
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