Thursday, May 01, 2008

Abused Afghan Women go to Jail

This, from an article about the abuses of women in Afghanistan:

At a Kabul hospital, a 16-year-old girl who is too scared to give her name is recuperating from reconstructive surgery after her husband cut off her nose and ears, bashed out all but six of her teeth with a stone, and poured boiling water on her.

The article talks about how women who try to escape abusive husbands are accused and convicted of adultery. Further, from the same article:

In parts of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where stern social codes prevail, a woman who runs away from home is typically suspected of having taken a lover and can be prosecuted for adultery. Simply leaving her house without her family's permission may be deemed an offense — as in Rukhma's case — although it is not classified as such under Afghanistan's penal code.

The chief prosecutor of eastern Nangarhar province who oversaw Rukhma's case suggested she got off lightly.

"If my wife goes to the bazaar without my permission, I will kill her. This is our culture," Abdul Qayum shouted scornfully during an interview in his office in the city of Jalalabad.

His colleagues laughed approvingly. "This is Afghanistan, not America," Qayum said.


Some culture, huh? I am angered over things like this.

How about you?

.

7 Comments:

At Friday, May 02, 2008 9:19:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

OMIGOD!! I can't believe stuff like this happens and is accepted as normal.

I've known an Afghani man and he genuinely was nothing, NOTHING, like this. On the other hand, he left Afganistan when he was 20 years old or so.

It's so strange, because you can't say they're totally backwards, like some tribe in the Amazon where I can see some justification to this kind of cruelty.

One would think as people evolve, cruelty would stop. Afghan people aren't backwards enough to justify this king of behavior.

 
At Friday, May 02, 2008 7:45:00 PM, Blogger The Sarcasticynic said...

I think that's one of the things that makes this so maddening - the fact it's accepted.

The irony is, a woman leaves an abusive situation with one man and she's accused of hooking up with another man. "Yeah. I need more of this."

 
At Saturday, May 03, 2008 9:25:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm very surprised that Benazir Bhutto was allowed to rule in Pakistan with this attitude towards women.

 
At Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:12:00 AM, Blogger The Sarcasticynic said...

The keyword here being "allowed." Click on the responsibility link from wikipedia's report of her assassination to check out the list of the guys who wanted her silenced.

From that report:

The Interior Ministry also claimed to have intercepted a statement by militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, said to be linked to al-Qaeda, in which he congratulated his followers for carrying out the assassination. On December 29 a Mehsud spokesman told The Associated Press that Mehsud was not at all involved in the assassination: "I strongly deny it. Tribal people have their own customs. We don't strike women. It is a conspiracy by government, military and intelligence agencies."

 
At Monday, May 05, 2008 12:52:00 PM, Blogger Freddie said...

Unbelievable.

 
At Monday, May 05, 2008 4:32:00 PM, Blogger The Sarcasticynic said...

Well believe it, Freddie. And all I could say to the statement, "We don't strike women. It is a conspiracy by government, military and intelligence agencies," tell that to the sixteen year old in the story with no ears.

 
At Monday, May 05, 2008 10:14:00 PM, Blogger James Burnett said...

Yeah, that's really sick. The open-minded part of me wants to close tight when I see a culture that allows something like this to take place without tossing the man in prison to serve hard time.

 

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