Nadia Anjuman, Afghani Poet, Beaten To Death By Husband

In case you missed the AP report, on November 8th,

Poet Nadia Anjuman was beaten to death, and her husband and mother have been arrested. The United Nations condemned the killing Tuesday as symptom of continuing violence against Afghan women four years after the fall of the Taliban.

Nadia Anjuman -- who was widely praised for her first book of poems, titled "Gule Dudi," or "Dark Flower" -- died Friday in a hospital in the western city of Herat after being beaten, said Nisar Ahmad Paikar, chief of the city's police crime unit. She was 25.

Her husband has confessed to slapping her after an argument, Paikar said. The woman's mother was at home at the time and was suspected of having had a role in the death. Both were arrested.

My guess is that Nadia's husband must have been losing the argument.

This story simply highlights the oppressed status held by arab Muslim women in many Middle Eastern countries. Even though the Qur'an and the haddiths clearly declare otherwise, they are culturally treated as male property and generally denied even the most basic of human freedoms.

Much of the social, political and economic structure the Middle East countries would likely crumble if women were permitted to enjoy the same freedoms and prviliges as the men.

Given that the social, political and economic situations in these countries are both a sham and a shambles to begin with, such a change could only (in the long run, at least) be for the better. And the sooner the better.....Not just for women like Nadia Anjuman but, even though it may be hard to belive, for the men, too.