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Father of acid attack victim appeals for help

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Mohammed Arif Ashraf is appealing for help for his daughter, horrifically burned in an acid attack.

Four men threw acid over 15 year-old Tuba Tabussum as she walked home from school.

Her only crime, her father writes, was refusing to engage in conversation with them.

Tuba suffered extensive burns to her face and body, has lost the sight in one eye and is in so much physical pain she cannot even speak.

Her father says the family has run out of money for any further treatment of Tuba’s horrific injuries.

Tuba’s story is merely the latest in the history of acid attacks on women in developing countries.

Inderjit Kaur was attacked last December by a man whose marriage proposal she had turned down.

Inderjit’s family have also exhausted their finances on her treatment and the lawyers they have hired to fight for compensation have either been inefficient or unwilling to fight the case properly.

A report on acid attacks in India, Bangladesh and Cambodia has described acid attacks as ‘gender-based violence’, and says that “acid attacks are perpetrated against women who transgress gender norms that relegate women to subordinate positions”.

This is exemplified by the Pakistani Taliban’s recent use of acid attacks as a means of preventing girls from getting an education.

CNN reported last month that two girls in the city of Parachinar suffered severe facial burns after an attack by the local Taliban.

Chillingly, the local leader of the Taliban said they would target any girl seeking an education in the same way “so that she [will] not be able to unveil her face before others”.

Impunity for perpetrators is a big problem.

The  same report found that in Bangladesh between 2000 and 2009, there were only 439 convictions for acid-based violence, although 2198 attacks were reported.

However, at the other end of the scale is the story of an Iranian victim – blinded in an acid attack – who was granted the legal right to blind her attacker as ‘qisas’, a form of retributive justice in Sharia Law.

After protests from human rights groups, Ameneh Bahrami decided to ‘pardon’ her attacker and sought financial redress instead.

However, her story raises the issue of what constitutes a proportionate response to acid attacks.

Although the West prides itself on more progressive attitudes, which mean acid attacks are far rarer than in countries such as India, Pakistan and Iran, there have been some notable exceptions.

Earlier this year in Montreal, Tanya St-Arnauld suffered burns to a fifth of her body when her partner threw a corrosive fluid over her during a ‘domestic dispute’.

In the UK, former model Katie Piper has become a renowned spokesperson for victims of acid attacks, after her ex-boyfriend arranged for an associate to throw sulphuric acid on her face in 2008.

Danny Lynch, who also raped and stalked Piper, set up the attack which caused Piper to lose her eyelids, most of her nose and part of one ear. She has since had nearly 100 operations to reconstruct her face.

Piper’s ordeal exemplifies how acid attacks can be part of a pattern of abusive and controlling behaviour by men who will not take ‘no’ for an answer.

Danny Lynch and Stefan Sylvestre have since received life sentences for the attack, described by the sentencing judge as ‘pure, calculated and deliberate evil’.

In a touching link between Piper and acid attack victims in the developing world, the ground-breaking treatment which Dr Mohammad Jawad performed on Piper’s face is now being used to treat acid attack victims in Pakistan.

And other positive changes are occurring.

Acid attacks in Bangladesh halved between 2002 and 2009 after new legislation restricted acid sales and brought in tougher punishments and a no-bail policy for perpetrators.

And although acid attacks remain a horrifying reminder of how women are punished for resisting male control, it is encouraging to see how some fairly minor legislative changes can bring about serious results.

For the sake of Tuba Tabassum, Inderjit Kaur and the many women like them, we must continue to raise awareness and to name and shame the men who carry out acid attacks, and urge other countries to follow Bangladesh’s lead in ensuring perpetrators face justice.

To donate to the Acid Survivors Trust International, click here.

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