Afghan girl rescued after being locked up in toilet for months

[News_Editor]

Afghan girl rescued after being locked up in toilet for months

2011-12-27 23:55:15 GMT+7 (ICT)

PUL-I-KHUMRI, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Police in northern Afghanistan have rescued a young girl who had been locked up in a toilet for at least half a year and was frequently beaten for refusing to have sex with men, local media reported on Tuesday.

The 15-year-old girl, who was identified as Sar Gul, married 30-year-old Mohammad Azim about nine months ago. She had since been living with her husband and parents-in-law in Baghlan province, where she was frequently beaten and denied food.

The Pajhwok Afghan News (PAN) agency reported that, about six months ago, Gul was locked inside a toilet after she had refused to have sex with men who were brought to the home by her parents-in-law. The victim's parents, who live in Badakhshan province, recently discovered the situation and informed police who freed her.

Following her rescue, officials took Gul to the Pul-i-Khumri Civil Hospital where she is being treated for severe mental stress. She is also being treated for various injuries, including burns across her body. All of her nails had been pulled off with pliers.

Hospital chief Dr. Gul Mohammad Wardak told the news agency that the girl was in a critical condition and may be transferred to the capital of Kabul in order to receive further treatment. The report said Gul's mother-in-law had been arrested, but her husband was able to flee.

It was not immediately clear if Gul's husband would also face arrest.

According to Afghanistan's civil code, girls cannot marry before they reach the age of 16. Nonetheless, child marriages remain widespread across the country with some girls being married as young as nine-years-old. According to a 2005 report, nearly 60 percent of marriages in Afghanistan involve girls below the age of 16.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-12-27

[Steely Dan]

Yet another heart warming story from a place with a different but equal culture to our own. I hope those guilty get an appropriately local punishment, though the victim will probably be murdered instead.

[Ulysses G.]

This is a 15 year old girl. SICK!

"She is also being treated for various injuries, including burns across her body. All of her nails had been pulled off with pliers".

[GentlemanJim]

I cannot imagine that people treated family members like this back in the stone age. I cannot even imagine the excuse for a hovel that the 'toilet' the girl was locked up in would be. That combined with torture of the girl does demand a swift and severe punishment for those guilty of the abuse. The horror of this story is that this is just one case and there must be many many more cases of young women being held in similar circumstances right at this very moment.

[slapout]

I do not think (hope) this action is indicative of the society, as a whole, of Afghanistan. Many people though out the world, seem to have this type of mentality, maybe not to this degree, but similar. Some say there will always be a minority who live/think as animals, but even the animal world normally opts for a quick death. These and like thinking individuals fell out the evolutionary tree ad envisioned by science.

[smokie36]

I do not think (hope) this action is indicative of the society, as a whole, of Afghanistan. Many people though out the world, seem to have this type of mentality, maybe not to this degree, but similar. Some say there will always be a minority who live/think as animals, but even the animal world normally opts for a quick death. These and like thinking individuals fell out the evolutionary tree ad envisioned by science.

You're giving animals a bad name. They do what is natural. This is anything but.

[luckizuchinni]

I do not think (hope) this action is indicative of the society, as a whole, of Afghanistan. Many people though out the world, seem to have this type of mentality, maybe not to this degree, but similar. Some say there will always be a minority who live/think as animals, but even the animal world normally opts for a quick death. These and like thinking individuals fell out the evolutionary tree ad envisioned by science.

There are evil people in every culture, true. But the difference in a place such as Afghanistan and say, Germany, is that in Germany, there are far more safeguards in place which protect the victims. It is harder to perpetuate such crimes in the more advanced nations than in places such as Afghanistan where tribal loyalties are the norm and women are often considered little more than chattel by a large portion of the society.

When the president of a country suggests that a rape victim marries her rapist so as to eliminate family shame and to make sure she does not suffer further attacks or even death, well, no matter how many good and righteous people there are in Afghanistan, that says something about the nation.

Edited December 28, 2011 by luckizuchinni

[koheesti]

Nearly 7 billion people on the planet. The world would be better off with millions less. Let's start with the sick child abusers like in the OP whether they are locking up their daughters in a toilet in Afghanistan or locking them up in a basement in Austria or getting their jollies watching kiddie porn using defenseless infants. Any "culture" or "religion" that says it is ok to do these things should be erradicated next. Un-brainwash as many of the followers as possible and destroy the rest.

Edited December 28, 2011 by koheesti