‘A few beatings won’t kill you’: judge rejects divorce request of woman abused by husband in Afghanistan | Afghanistan
The shocking level of physical violence against women permitted under the Taliban’s new laws was highlighted this week by the case of a woman in northern Afghanistan who said she was beaten with a cable wire by her husband, and a judge told her: “Is that just why you want a divorce? … A little anger and a few beatings won’t kill you.”
Farzana* said that her husband had a short temper and often resorted to beating her. She said he regularly belittled her and called her “disabled” because her right leg was slightly shorter than her left. She had turned a blind eye to the abuse for the sake of her children, but one evening she said the violence had gone too far.
“One day I was very sick and didn’t have the energy to make dinner. When she came home from work she said: ‘You don’t even do the housework now?’ I told him I was sick, but he beat me with his mobile phone charging cable. “The marks on my back and arms remained for a few days, but I didn’t think about taking photos that might help me in court one day.”
After the attack, she decided to end the violence by filing for divorce, but when her case recently reached the Taliban court, Farzana said the judge not only rejected her application but also belittled her allegations of harassment.
“When I said that he beat me, constantly humiliated and insulted me, and that I wanted a divorce, the judge asked me, ‘Is that just why you want a divorce? Don’t you have another reason?’ Farzana said that while she was describing her recent assault, the judge asked her if there was evidence of harassment.
“When I said no, she said to me: ‘You were young and you liked your husband. Now, as he gets older, you are making excuses to divorce him so you can marry someone else. Go back, you have a beautiful husband, live with him. A little anger and a few beatings will not kill you. Islam allows a man to beat his wife and discipline her if she disobeys. Go and never come back asking for a divorce because of such things.'”
Shaharzad Akbar, head of human rights organization Rawadari, said such cases have now become commonplace in Afghanistan. Women are either forced to live with domestic violence or seek justice in Taliban courts, she said, “where they are often lectured and sent back to the same abusive homes, or worse, punished for ‘disobedience’ to their husbands.”
Women’s rights advocates, UN experts and lawyers have long argued that the conditions imposed on Afghan women, including being barred from schools, most jobs and barred from public speaking, amount to gender discrimination.
However, last year a new criminal code was given to the courts and It was announced in January – went further by allowing violence against women and preventing women from seeking justice. Under the law, men are allowed to beat their wives as long as they do not use “obscene force,” defined as causing fractures, wounds or visible bruises, which the woman must prove in court. A person can only be sentenced to 15 days in prison for this crime. Akbar said the law gives husbands “punishments other than allowing domestic violence and breaking bones.”
Speaking to the UN about the law this week, Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai said: “This is not a culture. It is not a religion. It is a system of discrimination and domination. We must call the regime in Afghanistan by its true name: gender discrimination.”
After the court decision, Farzana said that she had to return to her husband, who was more violent than before. “He tells me: ‘Hang on or die.’ “He won’t even let me go to my father’s house.” The judge also told Farzana that she could not object to her husband taking a second wife.
Susan Ferguson, UN Women’s special representative for Afghanistan, said: “If we allow Afghan women and girls to be silenced and punished simply for being women, we send the message that the rights of women and girls everywhere are disposable and that this is an extremely dangerous precedent.”
* Name changed
