<
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/mar/12/a-few-beatings-wont-kill-you-judge-rejects-divorce-request-of-woman-abused-by-husband-in-afghanistan>
"The shocking level of physical violence against women permitted under the
Taliban’s new laws has been revealed this week by the case of a woman in
northern Afghanistan, who said she was beaten with a cable wire by her husband
and told by a judge: “You want a divorce just because of that? … A little anger
and a few beatings won’t kill you.”
Farzana* said her husband was quick-tempered and often resorted to beating her.
He regularly humiliated her and called her “disabled”, she said, because her
right leg was slightly shorter than the left. She had tolerated the abuse for
the sake of their children, but one evening, she said, his violence went too
far.
“One day I was very sick and had no energy to cook dinner. When he came home
from work, he said: ‘Now you don’t even do the housework?’ I told him I was
sick, but he beat me with a mobile phone charger cable. The marks on my back
and arms remained for several days, but I didn’t think of taking photos that
might one day help me in court.”
After the attack, she decided to seek an end to the violence by filing for
divorce, but when her case reached a Taliban court recently, Farzana said the
judge not only rejected her application but belittled her claims of abuse.
“When I said he beats me and constantly humiliates and insults me, and that I
want a divorce, the judge asked: ‘You want a divorce just because of that?
Don’t you have another reason?’” When Farzana went on to describe the attack
she had recently suffered, she said the judge asked whether she had proof of
the abuse.
“When I said no, he told me: ‘You were young and enjoyed your husband. Now that
he is getting older you are making excuses to divorce him so you can marry
someone else. Go back, you have a nice husband, live with him. A little anger
and a few beatings won’t kill you. Islam allows a man to beat his wife if she
disobeys him, to discipline her. Go, and don’t come again asking for divorce
over such things.’”
Shaharzad Akbar, the head of the human rights organisation Rawadari, said such
cases were now commonplace in Afghanistan. Women either had to live with
domestic violence or seek justice from the Taliban courts, she said, “where
they are often lectured and sent back to the same abusive houses or worse,
punished for ‘disobeying’ husbands”.
Women’s rights activists, UN experts and lawyers have long argued that the
conditions being imposed on Afghan women, including banning them from schools,
most jobs and speaking in public, amounts to gender apartheid."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
