IMMOLATIONS IN AFGHANISTAN

Contributed by: WOMEN LIVING UNDER MUSLIM LAWS (WLUM website)

Afghanistan: International Women's Day celebrated with self-immolation12/03/2009: According to the local officials of Herat province, a 45-year-old woman committed self-immolation due to ‘poverty and mental pressures’. (RAWA) This incident took place two days before the celebration of International Women’s Day in the Oba district in Herat. Including this case, 81 such cases have been recorded in this province’s burn hospital this solar year. Muhammad Arif Jalali, the administrator of the burn hospital in Herat said, “59 people who were admitted for self-immolation have died. Only four of them were men and the others women.” According to him, 80% of the victims were between the ages of 13 and 25. According to experts, poverty, family problems, forced marriages, age differences between spouses and domestic violence result in women committing self-immolation.
Four months back, 20-year-old Anar Gul chose fire to end her life due to her family problems. She said, “I had arguments with my husband for almost a week. Finally, I was very pressurized one night and threw benzene over myself and set myself on fire. Now it has been four months that I am in this burn hospital and my condition is getting better.”