Home Last Updated: Mon Dec 12, 2011 16:02 pm (KSA) 13:02 pm (GMT) How one woman’s bruises sparked more than just outrage
Monday, 12 December 2011
Twenty-six-year old Fatima al-Shehri was subjected to abuse for 11 hours by her husband in Saudi Arabia. (File photo) inShare.1By IKRAM AL YACOUB
Al Arabiya
Domestic violence afflicts women all over the world. The danger, threat and abuses associated with it cannot be relegated to any one gender, age, religion or other socio-economic factors.
Last week, shocking images of 26-year-old Saudi woman, Fatima al-Shehri, who was severely abused by her 60-year-old husband, surfaced on social media and caused widespread outrage. They also reignited the debate on women’s rights with rights activists calling for new laws and their implementation to protect women.
Shehri has been at the King Faisal hospital in Jeddah after being brutally beaten for over 11 hours by her husband. She is in the first trimester of her pregnancy and doctors are monitoring her unborn child’s condition.
According to her sister, police arrested Shehri’s husband and the family hopes he will be given the strictest of punishments. She said the husband tried to give money to his wife in exchange for her withdrawing her complaint of abuse but Shehri refused.
This was not the first time the young woman was abused by her husband.
She had filed two previous complaints with the police against her abuser but they hadn’t responded to her letters, ostensibly because of his then employment with the military services and vast connections. (Her husband was dismissed from his position prior to the latest incident of abuse.)
Shehri said that in the prior cases of abuse, he pledged not to hurt her again, but failed to honor the promise he made to her family.
She recently described the horrific incident in an interview to Al-Weam newspaper on Dec. 6: “I had just moved to Jeddah two months ago to accompany my husband and two daughters. On the day of the incident he dragged me to my room after locking up my daughters in the other room. He was beating me with a ‘screwdriver’ that he would use to make his drink. I somehow managed to escape after he fell asleep and ran out of the house to get myself to the hospital. I couldn’t take my daughters with me.”
She has been given high level of security at the King Fahad hospital due to the shocking extent of her abuse.
Her husband, meanwhile, has shifted their daughters to his brother’s house. Lawyers have expressed their concern about this move and are urging that they be reunited with their mother as they fear for their safety and well-being.
Human right activist, Samar Badawi, who visited Shehri at the hospital, said her bruises were indescribable.
The lawyer and human right activist Abdul Rahman al-Lahem has shown his willingness to defend the victim pro bono and wrote on his Twitter page that he was planning to seek permission from the justice ministry in this regard.
Activists say that Shehri’s case highlights the need to enact domestic violence laws in the Kingdom. The United Nations issued a special mandate in 2008 to urge the Saudi government to establish a legal framework based on human rights standards to address the violence against women and inaugurate a family court and independent institutions which can intervene in times of violence.
After understanding how timely intervention can save lives, Mecca governor Prince Khalid Al Faisal created a hotline for domestic violence in 2008 to enable victims to report cases and be able to reach authorities in case of any form of abuse.
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Awad al-Raddadi told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in January that the ministry had received more than 700 cases of domestic violence in 2010, but he refused to label it as a “phenomenon”. He did, however, acknowledge the serious nature of the problem.
A Saudi lawyer and human rights advocates, Ali al-Agla told Al Arabiya in an interview that violence against women, and especially against wives, has emerged as an important social concern especially in the lack of legal framework under which the issues can be dealt with.
He said that in the absence of any decrees or laws that can protect these victims, “we call on the Shura council and the legislative council to enact laws aimed at combating these highly publicized instances of aggressive violence against women.”
Group of women activists have initiated a campaign on Facebook and Twitter called “Enough violence against women” in which people can report incidents of abuse and educate the public of the serious consequences such horrific acts can lead to.
this link will show the picture too
Monday, 12 December 2011
Twenty-six-year old Fatima al-Shehri was subjected to abuse for 11 hours by her husband in Saudi Arabia. (File photo) inShare.1By IKRAM AL YACOUB
Al Arabiya
Domestic violence afflicts women all over the world. The danger, threat and abuses associated with it cannot be relegated to any one gender, age, religion or other socio-economic factors.
Last week, shocking images of 26-year-old Saudi woman, Fatima al-Shehri, who was severely abused by her 60-year-old husband, surfaced on social media and caused widespread outrage. They also reignited the debate on women’s rights with rights activists calling for new laws and their implementation to protect women.
Shehri has been at the King Faisal hospital in Jeddah after being brutally beaten for over 11 hours by her husband. She is in the first trimester of her pregnancy and doctors are monitoring her unborn child’s condition.
According to her sister, police arrested Shehri’s husband and the family hopes he will be given the strictest of punishments. She said the husband tried to give money to his wife in exchange for her withdrawing her complaint of abuse but Shehri refused.
This was not the first time the young woman was abused by her husband.
She had filed two previous complaints with the police against her abuser but they hadn’t responded to her letters, ostensibly because of his then employment with the military services and vast connections. (Her husband was dismissed from his position prior to the latest incident of abuse.)
Shehri said that in the prior cases of abuse, he pledged not to hurt her again, but failed to honor the promise he made to her family.
She recently described the horrific incident in an interview to Al-Weam newspaper on Dec. 6: “I had just moved to Jeddah two months ago to accompany my husband and two daughters. On the day of the incident he dragged me to my room after locking up my daughters in the other room. He was beating me with a ‘screwdriver’ that he would use to make his drink. I somehow managed to escape after he fell asleep and ran out of the house to get myself to the hospital. I couldn’t take my daughters with me.”
She has been given high level of security at the King Fahad hospital due to the shocking extent of her abuse.
Her husband, meanwhile, has shifted their daughters to his brother’s house. Lawyers have expressed their concern about this move and are urging that they be reunited with their mother as they fear for their safety and well-being.
Human right activist, Samar Badawi, who visited Shehri at the hospital, said her bruises were indescribable.
The lawyer and human right activist Abdul Rahman al-Lahem has shown his willingness to defend the victim pro bono and wrote on his Twitter page that he was planning to seek permission from the justice ministry in this regard.
Activists say that Shehri’s case highlights the need to enact domestic violence laws in the Kingdom. The United Nations issued a special mandate in 2008 to urge the Saudi government to establish a legal framework based on human rights standards to address the violence against women and inaugurate a family court and independent institutions which can intervene in times of violence.
After understanding how timely intervention can save lives, Mecca governor Prince Khalid Al Faisal created a hotline for domestic violence in 2008 to enable victims to report cases and be able to reach authorities in case of any form of abuse.
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Awad al-Raddadi told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in January that the ministry had received more than 700 cases of domestic violence in 2010, but he refused to label it as a “phenomenon”. He did, however, acknowledge the serious nature of the problem.
A Saudi lawyer and human rights advocates, Ali al-Agla told Al Arabiya in an interview that violence against women, and especially against wives, has emerged as an important social concern especially in the lack of legal framework under which the issues can be dealt with.
He said that in the absence of any decrees or laws that can protect these victims, “we call on the Shura council and the legislative council to enact laws aimed at combating these highly publicized instances of aggressive violence against women.”
Group of women activists have initiated a campaign on Facebook and Twitter called “Enough violence against women” in which people can report incidents of abuse and educate the public of the serious consequences such horrific acts can lead to.
this link will show the picture too
Ummah, the last sermon from Prophet reminds the husbands to treat their wives well... May Almighty give each one of us the patience and restrain our instincts from turning hurtful..... Ameen!
