"He came home from the mosque and accused me of having a bad character," the tiny, 32-year-old woman murmured through her veil as she awaited a recent court hearing in the case. "I told him it was not true, but he didn't believe me. He caught me and tied me up, and then he started cutting my face. He never said a word except, This is your last night."
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Bringing the Horror of the Practice of "Honor Killings" to the World's Attention! |
Zahida Praveen - Disfigured by her husband...becomes a case highlighted by the
"The case of one of the victims National Geographic examined in the video is heartbreaking but also hopeful. Zahida Perveen, a 29-year-old mother of three, was brutally disfigured and underwent extensive facial reconstruction in the United States. She is one of the only survivors in Pakistan to successfully prosecute the attacker—her husband."
Above a close up of the facial disfigurement Zahida suffered at the hand of her husband.
Shahnaz
Bukhari, Director of PWA, was
interviewed for this program. Follow her as she travels to the
beside of a burn victim of an attempted
"Honor Killing".
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Although this victim received extraordinary help from some physicians in the USA, she was left blinded by the attack as her husband gouged out her eyes in a fit of rage. She was six months pregnant at the time. She was fitted with prosthetic ears, eyes and nose by an master disguise maker retired from the CIA. |
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Her husband left her to die, but her younger brother rescued her. He has become her constant companion, guiding her everywhere, and now must support her and her children. |
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She was brave enough to seek prosecution of her husband. Few victims have the courage to go to the courts to demand justice for these crimes. As the trial progressed, men from his village shouted congratulations to him in his cell for attacking the "Immoral One." |
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The
Progressive Women's Association in
Islamabad, Pakistan |