3 In-Laws of Afghan Girl, 15, Are Held in Her Torture
By GRAHAM BOWLEY
Published: January 2, 2012
KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan girl's nails had been pulled out, her skin on her ear and nose had been twisted with pliers, and she had been kept in a dark, filthy basement bathroom without proper food or water for five months by her husband's family for refusing to go into prostitution, Afghan government officials said.
Jawed Basharat/Associated Press
Sahar Gul was taken to a hospital on Wednesday in Baghlan Province, north of Kabul.
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But she was finally released by the local police in Baghlan Province, in northeastern Afghanistan, last week and will be sent to India for further medical treatment, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Monday.
The case of the young girl, Sahar Gul, 15, has caused something of a sensation in Afghanistan, underscoring the unfinished business of advancing women's rights here.
Her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law were arrested last week, officials said. Her father-in-law was arrested on Monday evening, according to Rahima Zarifi, the provincial director of women's affairs in Baghlan.
The police are still searching for her husband, Ghulam Sakhi, 30, a soldier in the Afghan National Army who served in Helmand Province, the Interior Ministry said. He had fled, officials said.
President Hamid Karzai spoke out about the girl's plight in a statement on Sunday, saying that the case had to be pursued and that the people responsible should be arrested. The swift official response may show a new willingness to help the plight of young women in this poor country, but it also highlights the suffering that officials say is still common.
Her mistreatment began after she was married six months ago, when she was 14. The girl, from Badakhshan Province, and her husband did not know each other well, Ms. Zarifi said.
When her new in-laws tried to force her into prostitution, she refused, and they locked her in a downstairs bathroom in their home in Dahiney Ghuri in Pul-i-Kumri, the capital of Baghlan Province, Interior Ministry and provincial officials said. They would not let her call her family, and denied her food. They also beat her with a rod, officials said.
She was released after her mother traveled to Baghlan and her uncle alerted the local police, who forced open the door to the room where she was being kept.
Munshi Abdul Majid, governor of Baghlan, said the search was continuing for the husband and for others responsible for the girl's abuse. "This is an un-Islamic and inhuman act," he said.
Jawad Sukhanyar and Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.
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Tortured child bride sent back to live with her in-law attackers
Jon Boone
January 4, 2012
Afghan girl tortured after refusing prostitution
A 15-year-old Afghan girl is recovering in hospital after months of torture by her husband's family, local authorities say.
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KABUL: A 15-year-old Afghan girl who was nearly tortured to death by her husband and his family attempted to escape her attackers more than four months ago but was sent back home by local authorities, it has emerged.
Sahar Gul, a child bride married off to a soldier called Gulam Sakhi, who then tried to force her into prostitution, is being treated for horrific injuries in a hospital in Kabul after she was rescued last week.
During her ordeal several of her fingernails were ripped out with pliers and one of her ears was badly burned by an iron. Her husband is now on the run, and her mother-in-law and sister-in-law have been arrested.
Horrific ... Sahar Gul was beaten by her mother-in-law. Photo: AFP
Her case has caused uproar in Afghanistan and the country's President, Hamid Karzai, has vowed that those responsible will be punished.
But disturbing new details about how the local community and authorities responded to her abuse have highlighted the ambivalence many Afghans have over how far women should be able to exercise the most basic legal rights.
''She ran away to her neighbour's house and told them that her husband was trying to make her become a prostitute,'' a local community leader, Ziaulhaq, said. '''If you are a Muslim, you must tell the government what is happening to me,' she told them.''
Local people said they did take the case to the authorities. When police arrived, Sahar's mother-in-law tried to fight them off, screaming that her son had ''bought'' the girl who therefore had to do what she was told.
She appeared to be alluding to the dowry paid by Mr Sakhi's family, a sum thought to be about $US4000.
Neighbours say the family simply promised to stop hurting her. Ziaulhaq also alleged that bribes were paid to government officials to hush up the affair.
Although she emphatically denied money was paid, Rahima Zarifi, the women's affairs chief in Baghlan province, said she could not remember the details of the case, or why Sahar was sent back home.
The abuse resumed and continued for months until a male relative visited. When he found Sahar, who had been starved in a locked basement for weeks, she was almost unable to speak.
Fauzia Kufi, an MP who campaigns on women's issues, said that even then local authorities attempted to resolve the abuse through ''traditional means''.
''Basically they wanted the relative to sit down with his sister's abusers and work out an agreement,'' she said.
Ms Kufi also claims there was strong pressure not to publicise the case.
Horrific abuse of women is still common in Afghanistan, particularly against brides who can be regarded as chattels by their husbands or are exchanged between families in order to resolve feuds.
The government is frequently unwilling to enforce laws it has often been forced to pass by the country's international backers, and the writ of the state often does not run in areas far away from urban centres.
However, the case of Sahar was in Puli Khumri, an important, mid-sized town.
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