Reza Gul, 20, who drew international attention to domestic abuse in Afghanistan after her husband cut off her nose last month, has undergone reconstructive surgery in Turkey.
The 20 year old mother and her husband live in the Taliban-controlled Ghormach district of northern Faryab province in Afghanistan.
Gul told reporters, that she had been forcibly married in her teens and suffered six years of domestic violence.
“He used to beat me all day,” Gul said. “No one would protect me.”
In January, Gul and her husband, Muhammad Khan had a fight after he announced that he had taken the 6- or 7-year-old daughter of his uncle as a fiancée.
Gul said that she took her young daughter, left her home in the dark of night and sought refuge at her father’s house.
Gul unwillingly agreed to reconcile after her in-laws reached out to her family and elders in the village and requested their mediation. Her husband cut off her nose when she was being escorted back to her home.
“Shall I kill you or cut off your nose?” Gul said her knife-wielding husband asked. “I told him to kill me instead of cutting off my nose.”
Gul said she asked her husband why he would do such a thing when she had done nothing wrong. She added that her husband tried to shoot her, but his pistol did not go off.
“He then took his knife and cut off my nose,” she said.
After the incident, Gul was taken to a local health clinic in Ghormach and later admitted at the Faryab public hospital, where doctors said she was in very critical condition, having lost a lot of blood. She was transported to a hospital in Kabul and from there was flown to Turkey for treatment.
Gul said she is satisfied with her treatment in Turkey, which included several surgeries.
She doesn’t desire any reconciliation with her husband, who is still at large.
“May somebody cut off his nose, too,” she said.
Gul has asked her countrymen to pray for her recovery. She also hopes to remarry and raise her daughter.
Source: VOA
