Afghan Man Chops Off Wife's Nose and Lips For Disobeying Him

Drugs and alcohol are haram (forbidden) in Islam, but those Afghan men love their heroin.  Not sure how they reconcile the use of hardcore drugs with their religion, but they don't seem to care much since they grow the opium freely. In fact, Afghanistan grows more than any other country in the world. Not surprising they'd get hooked. And hooked Afghan men do beastly things when they need a fix, actually they do horrific things regardless, and tragically women bear the brunt of their anger and aggression.

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.

Palestinian Women Protest Police After Man Murders Wife Seeking Divorce

Domestic violence is as prevalent in the Arab/Muslim world as it is in the West. For all their religious piousness- praying and bowing to mecca 5 times a day, fasting for a month during Ramadan - they can be just as brutal and violent, if not more so. They, of course, are in total denial about the whole issue. No, according to them Muslim men cherish their women, are tasked with taking care of them. However, actions speak louder than words. I remember having heated debates with my mostly Asian and Middle Eastern readers when I blogged over at Instablogs- they vehemently denied there was a problem with rape and domestic violence in their culture. News reports, however, prove the opposite. Their world is full of honor-based violence and killings, and just plain old domestic abuse, but women are finally bringing the problem to the light.

After ten years of abuse, a mother of three- 27-year-old West Bank Palestinian Nancy Zaboun- finally asked her husband for a divorce.  But after the divorce hearing, 32-year-old Shadi Abedallah slit her throat in the middle of a packed Bethlehem market in broad daylight instead. He had started beating her soon after their marriage, when she was 17- which, of course is allowed in Islam- but not much of anything was done for all those years, in spite of the fact that she on several occasions was hospitalized for her injuries.
In response to the murder, Palestinian women took to the streets in protest, demanding more from police and the courts.

On Wednesday, several dozen brave women staged a memorial for Zaboun in the Bethlehem market alley where she was killed, holding signs and chanting, “No to violence against women.” One photographed sign read: “Shame on us Palestinians for killing our women.”

Women have scored a number of breakthroughs in traditional Palestinian society in recent years, including gaining a greater role in public life, but tribal laws still remain strong. Violence against women is generally viewed by police as an internal family matter, so even if a woman is able to call for help, the police are of limited value.

Though Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed a decree last year that ended a long-standing practice of treating killings within a family with leniency, Al-Azraq said violence against women appears to be on the rise. In her opinion, the deteriorating Palestinian economy and the fact that abusers don’t fear punishment is likely the cause.

Unfortunately, some police in the West have that same mentality, that it's a family affair. Well, it's not. We need tougher laws for domestic violence and abuse, wherever it occurs.

Pakistan- Man Honor Kills Divorced Cousin For Having 'Suspicious Character'

Watch out if you have a 'suspicious' character in Pakistan. And you're female.

21 year-old Mehwish was divorced by her husband Imran because of her 'suspicious character".  Then her cousin Karamat murdered her after an altercation where he told her that her alleged 'suspicious character" had brought shame to his family.

Yes, that's all it takes to get yourself killed in a region where 'honor' is worth more than a human life.

An FIR was registered at Police Station Housing Colony on the complaint of Kausar Bibi, mother of the deceased, against Karamat on the charge of section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code, said Station House Officer (SHO) Inspector Zahid Khan.

Cousin Karamat has yet to be arrested, though police claim they are doing what they can to apprehend him.

90-Year-Old Pakistani Woman Burns Her Daughter-In-Law Alive

People often talk about troubles with their mother-in-laws. It's hard enough dealing with some in-laws, but when you have to live with them (like many young couples do in places like Pakistan) it can be even more challenging.

25-year-old Sobia Bibi (mother of one child) got along well with her husband, but she often argued with his family.  It probably didn't help matters that he was off working in Karachi while she lived with the family in a small village near Lahore.  So on March 27, after some disagreement, Bibi's 90-year-old mother-in-law and several members of Bibi's husband's family burned her alive, as she was watching television.  Al-Arabiya doesn't mention if the house burned down, as well.

According to Sub-Inspector Muhammad Hussain, ' a case had been registered against four people', including the mother-in-law who was suspected of being inolved.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is not an isolated incident.  Daughter-in-laws, and women in general, are as disposable as diapers in that region.

Men Forcing Wives To Undergo Female Genital Mutilation

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one of the most horrifying rituals still practiced today. And it's not just Muslims chopping off the genitals of young girls, Christians in Africa are just as guilty, in spite of widespread efforts to ban the practice.  In fact, according to one report out of Kenya,  people are going out of their way to ensure that the tradition lives on by changing the season in which it's performed- from December to August,

...to avoid media spotlight and scrutiny from Government agencies.

FGM is performed on girls as young as a few days old and usually through puberty, but now per that same report, married women who were mercifully spared the knife as young girls are being forced to have the procedure done.

"Those who evaded the cut are now being forced to undergo the cultural practice or their husbands be denied land inheritance," said Women Rights Institute for Peace (Wrip) Executive Director Mariam Suleiman while releasing the report.

This was after Wrip undertook project activities geared towards preventing attempts to subject girls to the cut in November and December in Baringo County.

Suleiman said husbands force their wives to undergo the cut to avoid missing out on family inheritance.

Some chiefs and their assistants from the areas were accused of shielding FGM perpetrators from prosecution.

Circumcision period

"In East Pokot District the community in collusion with the Provincial Administration has changed the circumcision period from December to August to avoid the public, Government and media focus that comes at the end of the year," Wrip Executive Director stated.

She added that those who escaped the practice midyear are forced by their relatives to undergo the cut in December.

The report showed that only 99 girls underwent the cut in the months of November and December while 125 escaped and sought refuge in churches and at homes of relatives who are against the vice.

Suleiman further stated that lack of awareness of constitutional rights has made some girls not to seek legal action against perpetrators of the vice for fear of reprisals from their parents.

"There is need to educate them on laws, the court processes and the outcome especially on the fact that moving to court will not have their parents arrested," she said.

The Wrip boss urged anti-FGM stakeholders to let the campaigns be a continuous process to end the vice.

It's all about control. Shameful.

Another Afghan Woman Tortured By Husband And In-Laws

Another case of wife torture in Afghanistan.

According to Khaama Press, in the capital city of northern Baghlan province, Pul-e-Khumri, Afghan police arrested Abdul Mateen for torturing his 22-year-old wife Reeka by

.... shaving her head, putting her on snow and beating with cables.

The individual was finally detained by Afghan security forces and is currently under the investigations.

In the meantime provincial women affairs department chief Rahima Zarifee praised the Afghan security forces and said the tortured Afghan lady was taken to a secure place and her husband along with the first wife of him was detained by Afghan security forces.

Reeka who was tortured by her husband said she got married with Abdul Mateen three years back and was tortured, humiliated and insulted by her husband during these three years, and was even to prostitution.

She also said she filed complain against her husband but went to her husband’s house due to continued requests and lack of residence where she was again tortured until the police forces were informed and arrested her husband.

This comes as the wave of violence against women have dramatically increased across the country specifically in northern Baghlan province which has created concerns among the government officials and local residents in this province.

This was the same region where they found the 15-year-old bride, Sahar Gul, who had been starved, severely tortured, and kept in a dark basement by her husband and in-laws for refusing to prostitute herself.

At least they survived, 28-year-old Fatima wasn't so lucky. She was hanged by her husband's family, and then they threw boiling water over her dead body.

If violence against women is escalating now, just wait until we pull out.

Very sad!

18% of Young Asian Brits Support 'Honor' Based Violence

A poll sponsored by the BBC found that of the 500 young Asian Brits surveyed, 18% (1 in 5) think it's okay to beat the heck out of women if they've 'dishonored' their families. Killing them, not so much. Only 3% justified 'honor killings' for either

disobeying a father, rejecting a prearranged marriage, or marrying someone unacceptable by the family.

Not surprisingly, 6 percent of those were men as opposed to 1 percent of women.

A great majority of the 16 to 34-year-olds polled believe that 'honor' (as if violence is honorable) is a very important element in family life.  75% of those were men versus 63% of women. 

Violence against women is a huge global problem, but in a culture that devalues women and places more importance on 'honor' it becomes monumental.  And although Muslims aren't the only ones who participate in 'honor killings' and violence against women, it doesn't help matters that the Quran actually promotes wife beating for disobedience.

 Karma Nirvana,

...a charity that supports victims and survivors of honor based violence, reported on its Website that it receives “on average approximately 5,000 calls a year on our national helpline supporting all victims and survivors of forced marriage and honor based abuse.”

Jasvinder Sanghera, of the Karma Nirvana, fled her parent’s home when they attempted to force her into an arranged marriage at the age of 14.

She urged Asian community leaders in Britain to speak against the honor code, also known as “Izzat” in Urdu language.

“I’ve yet to see community leaders, religious leaders, politicians; Asian councilors give real leadership on this. They don’t because they know it makes them unpopular,” Sanghera told the BBC.

According to a spokesperson for the Iranian and Kurdish Women’s Rights Organization (IKWRO), last year in the U.K. there were over 2,800  cases of  "‘honor’ based violence" reported to the police.

“These figures demonstrate that ‘honor’ based violence is not a minor problem but a very serious issue which affects thousands of people each year, many of whom will suffer high levels of abuse before they seek help,”

Many feel that 'forced marriage' is a major factor in honor based violence, so in an effort to thwart violence against young women who refuse to marry men that their families match them up with, Brit authorities are considering criminalizing it.

The Home Office has launched a campaign seeking public opinion on creating a specific criminal offence for forced marriages and how it should be formulated.

I sincerely doubt anything will come of it. Arranged marriages are a long standing tradition for many Asians, and laws won't prevent them from taking place, or the violence against a daughter/sister who refuses to comply.

Spanish Imam Who Called On Muslim Men To Beat Their Wives Under Investigation

There are obviously some rather evolved members of a mosque in Terrassa, Spain,  because after the local imam encouraged the congregants to "discipline" misbehaving wives through 'physical and psychological violence',  the police are now investigating this unnamed Muslim cleric.

According to police, the imam is under investigation for

“disseminating discriminatory messages and violating the principle of equality and of women’s right to physical and moral integrity."

Apparently, he instructed men on the best way to punish their spouses and

“ provided concrete examples of the manner in which wives should be beaten, how to isolate them inside the family home and how to deny them sexual relations.”

I'd be surprised if the imam received anything more than a reprimand, but at least there are some in that community who aren't buying into the 'it says you should beat your wife in the Quran, so it's okay' mentality, and reporting it to the authorities.

This isn't the first controversy, however, regarding Muslims in that country. Catalonia, where Terrassa is located, has had other troubles with its large Muslim immigrant population.  The last controversy was in Lerida, where dogs were turning up poisoned, and in 2010 an imam was charged for harassing a woman for not wearing a veil.

UPDATE 3/7

Moroccan, Abdeslam Laaroussi, was arrested for promoting violence against women.

According to police, Laaroussi told his followers that it was best to punch women or use a stick on different parts of their bodies "without breaking their bones or making them bleed".

The Catalan police force, subpoenaed the man to give a statement, after complaints were filed that he was trying to encourage gender violence.

While he refused to give a statement, he was charged after investigators found that his speeches and sermons contained elements that promote violence and discrimination.

Way to go, Catalonia! Some jail time will do the oaf some good.

Update- H/T Islam in Europe

Pakistan To Enact Tough Domestic Violence Law

Here's some surprising news out of Pakistan:  the Senate is finally doing something to protect women and children against domestic violence with a Domestic Violence (Prevention and Protection) Bill.  The Bill also includes domestic workers in the home, who also are often subject to major mistreatment by their employers.

Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar's DV Bill, which passed unanimously in 2009 in the lower house of parliament and has now passed in the upper house, takes the whole issue of domestic violence one step further.  It won't just be a criminal offence to beat women and children, any act of violence including sexual, physical, or mental, any kind of harassment, hurt, intimidation, or "confinement and deprivation of economic of financial resources" will land someone in jail for up to six months.  They'll also be subject to a fine of at least $1,100 (100,000 rupees).

This is a major step considering it's actually a cultural and religious mandate to beat wives in Islam.




Apparently, prior to this law there were no repercussions for a man who beat his wife or child, it was simply considered a domestic affair and men were never prosecuted.   I'm not sure what took so long for it to finally reach the upper house, and the law still has to be enacted by  President Asif Ali Zardari, but it's very promising.

The U.S. would do well to follow suit and enact tougher DV laws, since we have as great a problem with domestic violence but don't have religion or culture to blame.

Afghan Woman Strangled For Giving Birth To Third Daughter

I just wrote a post about female gendercide, and how prevalent it is in China and India, Taiwan, Pakistan and South Korea. But it's not just in those countries that females are so devalued they wind up dead, pre or post-birth. And it's not just baby girls that are targeted for death- a mother that gives birth to too many girls can wind up losing her life, as well.

That's what allegedly happened to a woman in Afghanistan, but as with most stories out of those regions the details can differ quite substantially.  What we do know is that a woman was strangled by her husband, with the help of her mother-in-law, because she failed to give birth to a boy. However, this is where the stories vary: they have her age ranging from 22 to 30 with most claiming she was killed after bearing a third daughter, although several  mention it was a second baby girl.  Storay or Storai had given birth to a daughter two or three months ago, which so infuriated Sher Mohammad (her husband) that she was apparently tortured and then strangled with a rope. Wali Hazrata, mother-in-law from hell, tried to make it look like a suicide, but the police claim her body had been brutalized, so suicide was ruled out. Hazrata was subsequently arrested as an accomplice. Of course, the cowardly husband, a suspected militia man, has disappeared.

Hazrata denies killing her daughter-in-law, and police are searching for Mohammad.  He is believed to be in hiding with local militia which means he probably will never be found, and therefore not prosecuted.

Tragically, she had told her family that she might be killed if she had another daughter. Perhaps they didn't take those threats to heart because men simply take on new wives if one of them is unable to bear sons.

Thankfully, the baby girl was not killed.

Ironically, it's the man that determines the gender of a child. He should have strangled himself.

Sources: UK DailyMail, NY Daily News, NY Times, Al Arabiya

Bangladeshi Man Chops Off Wife's Fingers For Pursuing A College Education

An educated Muslim woman is often a threat to an ignorant, uneducated religious male in certain Muslim-majority countries. They prefer their women folk to remain at home, barefoot and pregnant. An education is a threat to their dominance, that's why they burn down schools in Pakistan and throw acid in young girl's faces in Afghanistan, hoping to keep them so fearful they abandon their educational goals. 

In fact, maiming females is an all too common practice as a retaliatory act for anything from being spurned, to being shamed, to jealousy. Acid is most common, but women have also had body parts cut off as punishment.  Remember the young Afghan woman, Bibi Aisha, who made it to the front page of Time Magazine after her nose and ears were cut off? She had been left to die after shaming her in-laws by running away from her abusive Taliban husband, but miraculously survived.

In the recent case of a 21-year-old Bangladeshi woman, Hawa Akhter Sui, jealousy played a factor in her mutilation. Her husband,  Rafiqul Islam, is the perfect example of the ignorant Muslim chauvinist male. Rafiq works in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as a migrant worker. Married in 2008- while Rafiq worked in Dubai, Sui stayed with her parents in Bangladesh and, in spite of his objections, continued her studies.  He had threatened her with "severe consequences", but little did she know how severe.

Sui, a second-year college student, said that Rafiq had called her and said that he had some presents for her, and that she should fetch them from his sister and brother-in-law's house. She arrived on December 1 at her sister-in-law's house, Naima Begum, and waited.  3 days later, Islam showed up at the house and told her he had a surprise.  This is what happened:

It was around 8:00am.



Jui's husband Rafiq took her into a room and locked her in.


“He told me that he would like to give me a surprise, and covered my eyes with my scarf. I could sense that he was angry with me, but I dared not protest,” Jui said.


“Then, he asked me why I continued my studies despite his objections.”


“I told him that I would sit for the HSC examination, and then quit studies. But he taped my mouth shut, and asked me to put my right hand on a table.”


“Suddenly, Rafiq said he would put an end to my studies, and then hacked off my hand.”

As Jui started groaning in pain, Rafiq's sister and brother-in-law broke into the room.

Then Sui sat there bleeding for 3 hours:

"Instead of taking me to a hospital, my husband Rafiqul Islam and his sister Naima Begum remained busy mopping up the blood on the floor and the bed. Later, Rafiq went out of the house to dump the detached hand into a dustbin"


“On my repeated requests, they took me to the hospital by an auto-rickshaw at about 11:00am, nearly three hours after the incident. On the way to hospital, they threatened to throw me out of the vehicle, if I told the story to anyone."

Had they taken her to the hospital sooner, there might have been a chance to re-attach the fingers. After initially lying to medical personnel at the 2nd hopsital Sui was taken to, Rafiq finally admitted he had thrown the fingers in a dustbin, but by the time they found 4 of them, it was too late. One still remains missing.

Some of the actual details are a tad sketchy-  how much did the sister and brother-in-law know? How much of the hand was chopped off?  But what we do know is that this controlling animal subjected his wife to agonizing pain and disfigurement for life, because he was jealous of her educating herself.

Sui will continue her studies, once she heals and learns to use her left hand. She wants to become a lawyer.  Rafiq, on the other hand is bucking for life in prison, if Human rights organizations get their wish.

Sources: The DailyStar, The Daily Mail UK, The Daily Star

Afghan Family Attacked With Acid After Daughter's Refusal Of Marriage

Apparently it's not just women who are targets of acid attacks, men are also victimized, though not to the same extent. In the case of  an 18-year-old Afghan woman, Mumtaz, whose whole family including her father were burned by acid, she was the catalyst for the savage attack, and for the usual reason: rejection
Some local goon had his eyes set on Mumtaz, but her parents trying to protect their daughter from marrying someone they believed was irresponsible.

With her parents support, she turned him down and instead got engaged to a relative.


A few weeks later, six or seven armed men burst into their home in the Bulk Awal area of the northern Kunduz city − the largest in the region − in the middle of the night.


“First they beat her father and then they attacked with acid,” said Mumtaz’s mother, who asked not to be identified.


All five are now receiving medical treatment, said Abdul Shokor Rahimi, head of the Kunduz regional hospital.


“The father and oldest daughter are in critical condition as they have been attacked all over the body,” Rahimi said.


“Their mother and two daughters who are 14 and 13 have some wounds only in hands and faces.”

“..started an investigation and those who have attacked them will be prosecuted."

Acid is the weapon of choice in Afghanistan, especially in regions where the Taliban still has a strong influence, as a punishment for women who refuse marriage proposals and as a means of frightening young school girls into staying at home in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  But it's not just Afghanistan where spurned lovers and others have used acid to get back at women, it also happens in Iran, Cambodia, in fact, all over the world.

Although the predominance of attacks are against women,  like Mumtaz's father, they're not the only ones who have been horribly disfigured by acid.

In January, veteran Afghan journalist Abdul Razaq Mamon, a presenter, commentator and author, was left with burns to his hands and face after acid was thrown at him in Kabul.  Officials said that attack may have been politically motivated.

Only a savage would throw acid on another human being, knowing that the victim will remain disfigured and in excruciating  pain for the rest of their lives.