Afghan woman 'helped strangle to death daughter-in-law for having undesired third daughter' Mother-in-law believed to have assisted her sonWali Hazrata 'tied victim's feet together during attack'Two-month-old baby not hurt during incident By Daily Mail Reporter Updated: 09:14 GMT, 31 January 2012 An Afghan woman has been arrested for 'helping strangle her daughter-in-law to death because she gave birth to an 'undesired' third daughter'. Mother-in-law Wali Hazrata is said to have tied the feet of 22-year-old Stori, which allowed the victim's local militia member husband Sher Mohammad to strangle her. The two-month-old baby girl was not hurt in the incident, in the village of Mahfalay, in the north eastern Kunduz province's Khanabad district, on Saturday.
Accused: Wali Hazrata (pictured) is said to have helped tie up her daughter-in-law while her son choked her to death Contradictory reports have emerged of the incident, with some media saying it was the woman's second daughter that sparked her murder. 'The husband and mother-in-law strangled her for giving birth to a third daughter.' Afghan father charged with gunning down two teenage daughters who ran away with Nato interpreter. Killings come as Afghan couple who eloped to Pakistan enter police custody amid fears they will be murdered Published: 19:26 GMT, 22 July 2012 | Updated: 16:41 GMT, 23 July 2012 An Afghan man shot his two teenage daughters dead when they returned home four days after running away with a young man, police said today. The father has been detained on murder charges in Nad Ali district in the southern province of Helmand, a hotbed of Taliban insurgency, provincial police spokesman Farid Ahmad Farhang said. 'He killed two of his daughters.
This week's killings come after a video emerged earlier this month (still shown above) in which the Taliban are seen executing a woman accused of adultery Police have issued an arrest warrant for the young man, who is said to be working as an interpreter with Nato forces in the southern province, the spokesman added. Despite progress since the fall of the Taliban, so-called 'honour killing' remains a common practice in the war-torn Islamic nation. Girl, 15, 'beheaded' in Afghanistan after her family turned down marriage proposal. Two men have been arrested following the death of the teenage girl in Kunduz province, northern AfghanistanVictim, named as 'Gisa', was beheaded by her cousin after she and her family turned down his marriage proposal, a police spokesman said By Kerry Mcdermott Published: 10:08 GMT, 29 November 2012 | Updated: 16:54 GMT, 29 November 2012 A teenage girl was beheaded by a relative in northern Afghanistan after she turned down his marriage proposals, according to reports.
The victim, named as Gisa, was decapitated with a knife in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz province on Tuesday, local police said. She is believed to be around 15-years-old. A police spokesman said two men, named as Sadeq and Massoud, had been arrested following the teenage girl's murder. The two men are understood to be close relatives of the victim that live in the same village. Local police sources have said the men behind the attack wanted to marry the girl, but their advances had been turned down by victim's father.
For Afghan Women, Rape Law Offers Little Protection. Hide captionAfghan women in the northwestern city of Herat. Women still have few rights and can end up in jail on adultery charges when they accuse a man of rape. There are fears that women's rights will be further eroded when Western troops leave the country. Aref Karimi/AFP/Getty Images Afghan women in the northwestern city of Herat. Women still have few rights and can end up in jail on adultery charges when they accuse a man of rape. This week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced the pardon of a 19-year-old Afghan woman who was imprisoned for adultery after being raped by a relative, in a case that has attracted international media coverage. But what happened to the woman, Gulnaz, who has been in prison for two years, is not an isolated episode. Many other women have suffered similar fates.
That much is evident at the Badem Bagh Women's prison in Kabul. That's what happened to Gulnaz. "The Afghan government says I have committed a crime. Movie Release Halted. Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai's backing of strict Islamic code 'is a giant step back for women's rights' Activists worried women's rights being used as bargaining chip in negotiations with the TalibanNew code promotes segregation of the sexes By Damien Gayle Updated: 14:40 GMT, 7 March 2012 Reversal: Afghan president Hamid Karzai has backed a strict code of conduct for women in the country Activists have accused the Afghan president of reversing improvements in women's rights after he endorsed a strict 'code of conduct' issued by clerics.
Hamid Karzai yesterday backed a document issued by the Ullema Council which promotes segregation of the sexes and allows husbands to beat wives in certain circumstances. The move is seen as part of his attempts to reach out to the Taliban in the lead up to the planned withdrawal of Nato troops from the Afghanistan in 2014. But activists are furious that gains made in women's rights since the 2001 invasion and ensuing occupation are being used as a bargaining chip with Islamic extremists. 'It is the Shariah law of all Muslims and all Afghans,' he added.
Life Sentence: Women and justice in Afghanistan. In the decade since the United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban government in Kabul, many positive changes have taken place in Afghanistan, particularly for women. There are many oft-cited statistics to illustrate this, including: the 2.7 million girls now in school, the 68 women currently in parliament, a female provincial governor, a female cabinet minister, and advocacy groups all over the country working to better the lives of Afghan women. But GlobalPost has spent several months unearthing other facts and previously untold stories of women and girls caught in the labyrinth of Afghan’s corrupt and failing judicial system. These facts and the stories behind them do not bode so well for the future of Afghanistan’s women: *Violence against women has never been higher, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). As women’s rights activist Roshan Sirran stated in an interview with GlobalPost: “In the tribal courts, the first sacrifice is women.
Kabul Seeks Control Of Women's Shelters. Hide captionA girl stands among Afghan women clad in burqas in Kabul last October. Rodrigo Abd/AP A girl stands among Afghan women clad in burqas in Kabul last October. When she was 13 years old, Khatira's stepmother gave her the bad news: It was too expensive to keep her, so she would have to marry a cousin living in Kabul. "They treated me well for the first month, but then they started beating me all the time," she says of her new in-laws. Khatira, who goes by one name, says her husband was mentally ill and she fell prey to his brothers, who tried to force her into prostitution. "They tied my hands and feet," she says. Neighbors helped her flee, and she found her way to one of Kabul's battered women's shelters, run by a group called Women for Afghan Women.
"During my time in the shelter nobody has visited me. Khatira's story is one of thousands of tales of abuse and torture told by Afghan women. "If it is under the control of the government, [the shelter] will not say no," she adds. Why Afghan Women Risk Death to Write Poetry. Like many of the rural members of Mirman Baheer, a women’s literary society based in Kabul, the girl calls whenever she can, typically in secret.
She reads her poems aloud to Amail, who transcribes them line by line. To conceal her poetry writing from her family, the girl relies on a pen name, Meena Muska. (Meena means “love” in the Pashto language; muska means “smile.”) Meena lost her fiancé last year, when a land mine exploded. According to Pashtun tradition, she must marry one of his brothers, which she doesn’t want to do. Meena lives in Gereshk, a town of 50,000 people in Helmand, the largest of ’s 34 provinces. “I can’t say any poems in front of my brothers,” she said. “My pains grow as my life dwindles,I will die with a heart full of hope.” “I am the new Rahila,” she said. Amail grimaced, uncertain how to respond. Rahila was the name used by a young poet, Zarmina, who committed suicide two years ago.
Like Meena, Zarmina lived in Gereshk, a little less than 400 miles from Kabul. Afghan Women Fight Back, Preserve Shelters. Hide captionSakina sits with her 18-month-old son, Shafiq, at a women's shelter in Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, last October. Sakina spent seven months in prison for leaving a forced marriage. The Afghan government recently backed down from a plan to take control of women's shelters, and women's groups are hailing it as a victory. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images Sakina sits with her 18-month-old son, Shafiq, at a women's shelter in Bamiyan, in central Afghanistan, last October. Sakina spent seven months in prison for leaving a forced marriage.
In Afghanistan, women's groups are claiming a rare victory. Last winter, the government was planning to bring battered women's shelters under government control. Women's rights advocates sprang into action, complaining that the new rules would turn shelters into virtual prisons for women who had run away from home because of abuse. She says high-ranking government officials can often sound like the Taliban on women's issues.