Burned Alive for Men's Honor

On a day full of sobering and depressing news, here is another sobering and depressing story from today's UK Telegraph.

As a teenager in the West Bank, Soauad became pregnant by a local boy. Her 'shamed' Palestinian family condemned her to death and she was set on fire by her brother-in-law. Every year, thousands of women in the Middle East die in 'honour killings'. Souad survived. This is her harrowing story:

He came towards me and said, with a smile: "Hi. How goes it?" He was chewing a blade of grass. "I'm going to take care of you."

I hadn't been expecting that. I smiled a little, to thank him, not daring to speak.

Suddenly I felt a cold liquid running over my head; I was on fire. I slapped at my hair. I screamed. My dress billowed out behind me. Was it on fire, too? I smelt the petrol and ran, the hem of my dress getting in the way. Did he run after me? Was he waiting for me to fall so he could watch me go up in flames?

I'm going to die, I thought. That's good. Maybe I'm already dead. It's over, finally.

You should read the whole, heartbreaking excerpt.   The article also has information about SURGIR, the Swiss charity that rescued Souad from her fate.   You can also buy her book at Barnes & Nobel by clicking on the cover image to the left.

[I've fixed the link to SURGIR, above.]