12-Year-Old Girl Beaten, Tortured to Death by Husband in Ghor

A 12-year-old girl was allegedly beaten to death by her husband and in laws family members in Ghor province, local officials said.

The child bride Gul Hazar was forced to marry an old man by her parents three years ago and has been under many types of torture since then.

“I was beaten every day- by my husband, father in law and mother in law. Nobody heard me. I was beaten every day because I was a teenage girl,” Gul Hazar said in a critical condition.

Afghanistan faces serious human rights issues, including physical and sexual violence against women and so-called honor killings that often involve immolation.

The teenage Gul Hazar noted that she was sent to desert to find and collect woods; she even sometimes spend the night alone in the desert and ate the remaining foods of the dogs.

“No one helped me; even my father and mother. My mother-in-law cut off my ear and tortured me with warmish skewer,” Gul Hazar added.

The relatives of Gul Hazar said that they have seen more than a hundred signs of torture in her body.

The acting Police commander of Dolain district of Ghor, Besmellah Sidiqi said that they have arrested her husband and her in laws family members in connection to this case.

Despite much progress since the fall of the Taliban 10 years ago, women’s rights in Afghanistan remain a problem in a country with a strict patriarchal culture.

Under Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, women were banned from classrooms, politics or employment. Women who wanted to leave home had to be escorted by a male relative and were forced to wear burqas. Those who disobeyed were publicly beaten.