Nada Al-Ahdal | Today in Mukalla we launched the hashtag #WeAreAllMarwaAlBeiti
Today in Mukalla we launched the hashtag #WeAreAllMarwaAlBeiti
Who is Marwa?
Marwa, everyone, is a simple, quiet girl, 22 years old, from my class at high school, married and the mother of young children. Today we were shocked to learn that her husband poured petrol on her and set her on fire in front of her children after a dispute between them, and left her for ten hours before taking her to hospital. She is now in hospital, able to move only her eyes, with 80% of her body burned. ????????
Of course her family are of modest means, and they are asking for prayers and financial help, and her father has broken down in tears, according to the women's union delegation who visited her in hospital today!
– As for her brother, he is contacting journalists asking them to stop circulating news about his sister, saying the case is a family matter and that's that. ????
– A very large group says this crime has nothing to do with violence against women but is just a crime by one individual against another, and that's it, the people of the organisations and the feminists will come out and talk, so silence them. ????
– Another very large group says, why did she disagree with her husband in the first place!!
– The shock is that during last week's campaign against violence against women there were 3 cases in which wives died: one beaten to death, the second strangled while pregnant, and the third Marwa, because she was taken to hospital.
Marwa's children told the neighbours, our father burned our mother.
The victim in Al-Koud: her son said, my father strangled my mother, while his family say she was bewitched!!
The generation of the future, everyone: their fathers kill their mothers in front of them, and you still insist that violence against women is just clichés and a scheme to harm society.
And whoever says it is an isolated case, no!!
No no no, they are not isolated cases when they reach three victims in the same week in a small city!
These cases show that there are many others. How many cases of assault are not documented? And how many women are beaten, deprived and oppressed and stay silent? Even an epidemic in an area is revealed by a single case, and a state of emergency is declared.
If we count three cases in a week, when will we admit there is domestic violence? After a thousand women have died???
Marwa's husband must be brought before the courts and held to account under the law, and so must the husbands of the other two victims!
I hope this hashtag trends, O virtuous city that protects its women and fears for them. ????
Aisha Aljaedy
Nada Al-Ahdal | Human rights activist campaigning against child marriage
