Customs and Traditions

There are some customs and traditions so blatantly inhumane that they represent a universal affront to humanity. In traditional fundamentalist religious societies it is a commonplace that women's rights are not observed, particularly in rigid patriarchies. Assaults against women then assume another dimension, when they are so outrageous that they simply fall into the sphere of indignities and crimes against humankind.

In rigidly male authoritarian societies where women have few freedoms, it has been accepted that men can behave violently against women. Menfolk holding the women in their families to a rigid standard of submission to male authority. They are dependents with few recognized legal rights of their own. In places like India and the Middle East women's lives are easily forfeit if they insist on their rights as individuals, as women, capable and responsible.

In Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan women continue to be denied the opportunity to achieve an education. They may appear in public only appropriately garbed, in the presence of male family members. In Saudi Arabia and elsewhere women are expected to be chaste and modest in their clothing, in the public arena. Honour killing is practised in Syria, Jordan, and elsewhere in the region. The justification for which is that a woman who brings dishonour to her family through loose morals(loosely interpreted) must forfeit her life to restore the family's honour.

And in these male-dominated hierarchies women risk disfigurement through beatings and through the common practise of being doused with acid. Iranian Ameneh Bahrami, a young university electronics graduate who had met another student at her classes who became fixated on her, was dreadfully assaulted by him, when she continued to spurn his advances, culminating in his threats of dire harm if she continued to refuse him in marriage.

"He told me he would kill me", she said. "He said, 'You have to say yes.'" Well, she did not, she continued to refuse his advances throughout the space of two years while he kept insisting that she accept him. Finally, upon leaving her place of employment in 2004, waiting for a bus to take her home, he threw sulphuric acid at her face. It dripped down her neck, on her hands and arms, leaving her flesh withered.

Seventeen operations followed. She lost one eye and the remaining one permits her limited sight. Her face remains scarred, but she has no further money to pay for additional surgery. In Muslim countries it is common to offer "blood money" to atone for violence, but despite her mounting medical bills, Ms. Bahrami has steadfastly refused to accept money from her attacker.

The judge hearing her case in Tehran enquired of her whether she would like her attacker's face to be splashed with acid, just as he had done to her. "That is impossible and horrific", she responded. "Just drip 20 drops of acid in his eyes so he can realize what pain I am undergoing." In a subsequent interview she said "People like him should be made to feel my suffering."

Under Islamic Shariah law this kind of punishment is considered just and legal. The man has never indicated remorse. His attack on the woman was instigated because of his love for her, he insists. Iran's Supreme Court has since rejected the attacker's appeal and upheld the blinding, as just punishment.

Mahmoud Salarkia, Tehran's deputy public prosecutor, claims the publicity in this case would be useful in deterring future such attacks. If that is what it takes.