A photograph of an Afghan woman whose nose was sliced off by her husband in a fit of rage has sparked online anger, with activists demanding punishment for what one called a “barbaric act”.
20-year-old was immediately taken to hospital after the attack in Ghormach district in the northwestern province of Faryab on Sunday. Her husband is said to have fled to an Talrban-controlled area.
“Mohammad Khan (the husband) cut off Reza Gul’s nose with a pocket knife,” Faryab governor’s spokesman Ahmad Javed Bedar told AFP.
The incident witnesses the endemic violence against women in Afghan society, despite reforms.
“Such a brutal and barbaric act should be strongly condemned,” Kabul-based women’s rights activist Alema said the media.
“Such incidents would not happen if the government judicial system severely punished attacks on women,” added Alema, who goes by one name.
The disfigured woman’s photograph was widely shared on social media, prompting calls for tough action against the husband.
Bedar said Gul would need reconstructive surgery, which was not possible in the local government hospital.
It was not immediately clear what prompted the husband to attack Gul, the mother of a one-year-old child who was married off five years ago as a teenager.
Bedar said Khan, an unemployed man, had recently returned.
The government has vowed to protect women’s rights but that has not prevented deadly attacks.
