Author: Noorjahan Akbar
Source: WLUML.org
In March 2015, a violent, hysterical mob beat, torched, and killed a woman, ran her over with a car, made her face unrecognizable, and threw her corpse in the Kabul river. Thousands of onlookers watched on like it was a spectacle to be enjoyed, not intervening, and hence, adding to the brutality.
The woman’s crime? “Burning the Quran”—which, as substantial evidence proved later, was an entirely false allegation.
To recap: Farkhunda Malikzada was a 27-year-old student of Islamic studies, a keen Muslim, and on her way to becoming a teacher. On March 19th, 2015, she challenged an amulet peddler for deceiving women desperate to have children, convincing them his wares would help. He retaliated by accusing her of burning the Quran. What followed shook Afghanistan, and garnered an international response from around the world.
Only 12 of the 49 men charged were convicted. 19 policemen were taken in as well, for providing insufficient protection to Farkhunda; ultimately, 8 of these were not penalized. The amulet seller, who was responsible for inciting the mob, did not receive a death penalty. It was clear, resounding indication that women are not safe in Afghanistan, and many had had enough.
The Afghan public was enraged, and in a highly unprecedented move, it was women instead of men who carried her coffin to the grave, refusing to let even a single man touch it. A month later, a rally was held to protest her murder and demand justice. Some women donned blood-red masks made from an image of Farkhanda’s bloodied face during her attack. The Afghanistan Solidarity Party planted a tree where her body was buried. A group of rights activists staged an enactment of the murder, watched on by a tearful, deeply grieving crowd.
Even after all this, on 7th March 2016, the court reduced the sentences of the convicted men, and quashed four death sentences. Immense protests followed, and on 10th March, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered his government to reopen the case, insisting that justice for Farkhunda be made top priority.
There is a hope there that the government will indeed listen to the voices of so many activists and civil society members who have been tirelessly protesting all year. It will be a sign that the situation of women can improve, that the legal system can provide.
