The or day, my Afghan-known Nargis * asked me to go to hospital to interpret it for her. She has lived since 2016 with her husband and her six children in East Germany and can still not be so good German. The family fled Afghanistan because of war. When I arrived at hospital, I met her 18-year-old daughter Sadaf *. She wrid in pain. Her mor said quietly, "she has her rule."
Every month girl suffers from extreme abdominal pain since she is 14. After examination, I was interpreting between a doctor and a parent. The doctor suggested three solutions: an operation could help in which hymen would be stretched and possibly destroyed, girl could take pill or highly dosed acetaminophen suppository.
Sadafs parents could hardly bear to hear first suggestion at all. They became angry: "A girl without a hymen is immoral in our culture! She must remain a virgin until she is married, no matter how old she is. " So girl got prescribed painkillers. She has already taken painkillers in Afghanistan, told SADAF, so she now also has stomach problems. But she sees it as her parents: virginity is a moral duty for her.
Murder and contemptIn Afghanistan it is traditionally so: if a young woman on wedding night no longer has a Hymen, it is assumed that she already had sex. This is a shame for whole family. This attitude is life-threatening for young women. Four months ago, a bride in western Afghanistan, where Taliban are active, was shot by her own bror. Previously, husband had asked bror to pick up his sister because she was supposedly "unclean" at wedding.
If an unmarried woman who is no longer a virgin is not killed, she is in any case despised by society. There are many such stories in Afghanistan. A woman shaved her husband's hair for this reason. Anor man married a second time, without getting divorced from his first wife, because he wanted his second wife to compensate for "impure".
Recently, a man brought his 16-year-old bride back to her parents on wedding night. Instead, he wanted to marry her little sister, who was only 13 years old. With or armed men he fell into girls ' home, threatened and insulted family and simply took younger girl with him.
The existence of a maiden hymen does not say much. Some women are born without Hymen, some are also without sexual intercourse, while ors hold it even though y have had sex. But such medical facts are simply ignored in Afghanistan, even by state.
The law in Afghanistan takes over sharia law. Men and women are punished if y sleep before marriage, as well as spouses who go foreign. An unmarried woman who is no longer a virgin is considered a criminal. To whom extramarital relations can be proved, state does not have to reckon with stoning or lashing, as sharia provides, but with a year or two imprisonment. "The detention will only be shortened for pregnant women or nursing mors," explains Mohammad Ashraf Rasooli, adviser to Afghan Ministry of Justice, this practice.
Date Of Update: 13 October 2017, 12:03
