Farkhunda, respected in death by brave women of Kabul
Farkhunda the young woman subjected to a brutal lynching, beaten to death and her body set ablaze for allegedly burning the Quran was finally given the care and respect by the women of Kabul, denied to her in life. They came together and shouldered a heavy burdon of collective pain and loss as they carried their sister to her final place of rest guarded by a ring of men who stood beside their women.
Farkhunda who suffered from mental health problems was set upon by an unholy mob of violent deviants that took it upon themselves to act as judge, jury and executioner to a person described by her father as “devoted to her religion”. See link below for earlier story,
“Farkhunda and Lahore killings acts of violent sexual perversion by “out of control” men”
Cowards who mercilessly beat a mentally ill woman
As Amina Zia Masoud so poignantly writes in her op-ed for Khaama Press,
“her name was Farkhunda, she was 27 years old and had allegedly burnt the Holy Quran, a crime punishable by Afghan law. Yet, Farkhunda was mentally ill, according to her doctor and her parents, Farkhunda had been mentally ill since her teenage years.
“We tried everything, got her medication, took her to many mullah’s but with no luck”, said her mother at the 6pm nightly news, completely unaware that her child had been murdered by an angry mob on the accusation of blasphemy. A mob of hundreds of men who shamelessly beat one woman, no consideration was given to her screaming and her wailing, the blood protruding from her flesh, the sounds of her bones cracking, her young life being taken away. In broad daylight, in the middle of Kabul, under the shadow of the Shah-do-Shamsher mosque, a house of God, one woman was beaten and tortured to death by hundreds of men proclaiming to be honouring their Creator, yet they were the most honourless men. The haunting thought of one woman being beaten to death by hundreds of men replays in my mind.”
Mullah alleged to have praised her murderers, led away from her funeral (image via Bashir Ahmas Gwakh)
This time the crowd was not hostile but caring, determined to make sure Farkhunda was treated with dignity. Nor were they going to tolerate anyone that had allegedly colluded with her killing. Bashir Ahmad Gwakh tweeted, “people did not allow influential Mullah (Mullah Niazi) in Farkhunda funeral. He praised her murderers…. This influential hypocrite Mullah first praised Farkhunda’s killing, then came to her funeral but chased away by people.”
Khaama Press reports that 11 people have been arrested so far and that President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has ordered a commission to investigate the incident and send its report to the presidential palace. A press release states,
“President Ghani has also instructed all of the related government agencies to cooperate with the commission and provide necessary support in the time of need.
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has also asked the Ministry of Interior to specify the role of the security agencies and present report about the pre-arrangements in preventing such incidents.”
Recent reports from UNAMA (a part of the United Nations) and HRW Human Rights Watch show that physical, psychological and sexual abuse of women remains a concern in Afghan Society. America continues to fund and support criminal actions by “notorious human rights abusers” warlords and the militia though western media tend to focus on the Taliban.
Staring at burnt remains..the day men turned into timid mice failing to protect a vulnerable woman
Far from being brave and defending Islam, the men at the scene of Farkhunda’s killing chose to be weak and impotent… not one had the guts to step forward and protect a vulnerable woman… it was a day when men turned into timid mice.
Reactions on Twitter
PashtunWomenVP
Your own people watched you die Farkhunda… Ahhhh we failed to save you … 😦 R.I.P.
Ahmad Suja
Ministry of Hajj & Endowments can’t find any evidence that Farkhunda burned the Qur’an.
-abu-TaHa
I am confused! Both people who lynched Farkhunda and people who protested her brutal killing were shouting “Allah Akbar”.
Courtney
“Farkhunda is a daughter of Afghanistan! Today it is her, tomorrow it is us!” they chant.
Daud Junbish
Afghan officials who praised the murder of the innocent woman in Kabul are as complicit as killers themselves; they must be punished
Links
“Family of Afghan Woman Murdered by Mob Says She Was ‘Devoted to Islam’ and Did Not Burn the Quran”
“When Kabul lost its honour”
Carol Anne Grayson is an independent writer/researcher on global health/human rights and is Executive Producer of the Oscar nominated, Incident in New Baghdad . She is a Registered Mental Nurse with a Masters in Gender Culture and Development. Carol was awarded the ESRC, Michael Young Prize for Research 2009, and the COTT ‘Action = Life’ Human Rights Award’ for “upholding truth and justice”. She is also a survivor of US “collateral damage”.
Carol Anne Grayson (Radical Sister) blog 
Sad that people can do this to each other in this day and age. Our brains may be larger than they were 7 million years ago, but it looks like we still don’t know how to do good things (and not bad things).
Thanks for your comment.. Yes we must act sooner not wait for a terrible tragedy to defend the vulnerable in society!
I honestly have no words for this. Never in my life have I felt so ashamed of being Afghan. Hundreds simply stood there, whilst dozens participated. And it wasn’t old men somewhere in a remote village who committed this horrible crime. These were men my age, from a major city, where thousands of foreigners reside, where universities are located, etc. How could such an injustice have taken place in my city? I just cannot forget this. Ever. This changed me and I think many other Afghans. Hopefully this horrible tragedy will empower Afghan women and all those who stand with them. May poor Farkhunda rest in peace. Thank you for writing about this horrible event. More people must learn about this tragedy. Everyone must know. We all must fight against this.
Thanks for your comment… A heartbreaking incident for the cruelty inflicted on a vulnerable young woman. Last week two innocent young men were lynched in Lahore… we must try to teach not to judge too clearly, to practise tolerance and leave decisions of innocence or guilt to a proper legal process not a mob beating and burning. The best thing we can do in memory of Farkhunda is work to change the thinking that this behaviour is not acceptable in society and let some good come from these efforts effort!
Am a Nigerian, but I have never witness such kind of artrocity in my country were we practice little or no religion in contrast to Afganistan. Am A muslim, and base on the islamic injuction no one is allowed to punish another fellow except the islamic state, but what about not under islamic state? the court is there to take prorper action. Does that mean no court to prosecute this young lady as the time of the incidence even if what the accused her off was found to be true? Were are the police? The security agent to stop the event? I was watching it from Aljazee @ about 2:pm Nigerian time I was shading tears!! Is that what the prophet teaches as the best religion ever in the world? Is that what the religion of of islam promote? Does rteligion of islam states that we should take law in to our hands? The perpeitrators have an obligation including the mullha’s to seek the family, friends, relative and the state Appology and the general public in respect of what has happened.
because I swaer by God who so ever has hand in the Brutal killing of this young lady must definately face morethan what she have faced here after for that she have never commited the offence that she’s being alledged off.
May her Soul rest in perfect peace.
Thanks for your comment. People wrongly took the law into their own hands with terrible consequences. Part of the problem is the failure of authorities themselves to uphold the law. I have just read 2 human rights reports for Afghanistan that show the state is complicit in committing atrocities so perhaps its not surprising that citizens copy this behaviour. If Farkhunda had done something wrong (which she hadn’t, she was cleared of any wrongdoing and innocent) she should have had the right to present her case not a trial by lynch mob.
Even if she did burn the Quran, what’s the big deal ? I don’t think Allah need a bunch of savages to lynch a person who supposedly burned a book, written, translated, manufactured, by men !
What’s so holy and pure about men ? look at what these men did to this defenseless woman !
I think, the real problem here is that people in afghanistan, don’t have many opportunities to “grow-up”, “think of their own” to get a career of their choice (such as becoming a nurse, engineer, hairdresser, nurse assistant, cook, secretary, doctor, electrician, plumber, nail artist, scientist, salesmen/woman, attorney, singer, dancer, theater actors, etc..etc..) and eventually get a job that would allow them to live a decent, “normal” life, develop social skills, have hobbies, these people, have nothing but religion ! no purpose in life, no perspectives, no money, no social status, no protection from police /government (social programs/education/health insurance) nothing but war, religion and phallocentric medieval ideals ! (of course, afghanistan is a corrupted, totalitarian phallocentric theocracy !) unfortunately, religion is not enough to ease their frustration, anger and massive amounts of testosterone they have inside of them !
If these people had an opportunity to, “get a life”, get an education, based on real facts, not just religious education (a mix of both is not a bad idea!) i don’t think they’ d be spending their time lynching defenseless women who allegedly burned a “holy book” ! they’d be too busy at their jobs, satisfied with their lives, feeling useful, being happy for what they have achieved,
who’d like to risk a death penalty or life in prison by lynching a defenseless woman whose crime is not even proved yet ?! Even if she did burn the book, “civilized/normal” people will never ever do what they did to Farkhunda ! Never !
Psychopaths with no purpose in life, that gave up on hope, humanity, empathy, kindness and understanding, were probably never taught these values and certainly feel absolutely nothing at all about human s suffering, are capable of doing what they did to Farkhunda !
Rest in peace Farkhunda, your pain and suffering is over, and i hope and pray that you are at peace, in a much better, safer place than Afghanistan !
Those who killed Farkhunda are thugs and cannot call themselves religious. The attack was strongly condemned by many caring and outraged Afghan citizens that took to the streets in large numbers to protest, the brutal murder was also condemned by religious leaders, politicians and the Taliban. Unfortunately some police were also alleged to have stood by and did nothing.
An inquiry established Farkhunda did not burn the Quran (which is considered highly offensive to Muslims but there is a legal system to address complaints) but in fact criticised a Mullah who was selling charms to women who could not conceive. Farkhunda had informed him that this was not right as these women were poor and it was giving them false hope. Farkhunda was known to be intelligent, educated and to have gained great comfort from following Islam in the true sense, it was perhaps her level of knowledge and skills that sparked the appalling response from a mam who was not following the teachings of Islam in his actions and some around her who abused their religion (if they followed religious teachings) by committing such a vile and criminal offence.
Since the invasion of Afghanistan, the US has supported/funded many such human rights abusers as is evident in recent reports from human rights organizations that are calling for accountability and there is little hope for people until they can govern themselves free of foreign interference that prescribes they must live according to so called “western values” which leave a lot to be desired!
Unfortunately such criminals are everywhere, just look at the Dylann Roof killings of churchgoers in Charleston where he shot to death 9 people or the unlawful killings by police in the US which brought many protesters on to the streets… These rogue police were supposed to be educated, well trained men in a respected profession upholding the law in their communities but it did not stop some unlawfully killing civilians!
As someone who writes on the AfPak region, I am often struck by the kindness, compassion and community spirit that prevails DESPITE problems with government, local authorities and lawlessness which is very evident in some areas. Religion is very important to many and is what keep them going in life!
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