Saudi Newscaster Beaten by Husband
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Saudi Newscaster Beaten by Husband
| Fri, 04-16-2004 - 3:10pm |
A TV presenter who says she was beaten by her husband has allowed newspapers to show pictures of her swollen face to highlight domestic abuse.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3631743.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3631743.stm

What a brave woman.
Hope it does draws attention to this & other abuse.
Renee
Hopefully we will never hear another story like this one:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1874471.stm
Rania al-Baz's beating is also forcing the kingdom to confront domestic abuse as she hoped it would:
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/world/8473566.htm?ERIGHTS=5893015780619193326dfw::stormcnter@aol.com&KRD_RM=8oowvqtpwtupsspqtwtooooooo|Linda+C.|Y
A popular Saudi television host publicly showed her bruised and bloodied face and has shocked her compatriots into openly talking about one of Saudi Arabia's long-hidden problems: violence against women.
Rania al-Baz has been hailed as a hero for letting newspaper photographers snap pictures of her face and for frankly discussing her case after she said a beating by her husband this month left her unconscious.
Her story has been widely reported in the Saudi media. A Saudi princess stepped forward to pay her medical bills. Representatives of the new Saudi National Human Rights Association visited her in the hospital.
Al-Baz said in a telephone interview Sunday that once she is back at work, she will promote a violence-against-women awareness campaign.
"I know many women in Saudi Arabia are badly beaten, and when I recover I will do a program addressing that," she said.
She said she also will try to tackle other topics, such as rape, that are usually not publicly discussed in conservative Saudi Arabia.
Al-Baz is well known throughout the kingdom for her chatty, magazine-style show, The Kingdom This Morning. The program usually offers lighter fare and is shown on state-run Saudi Channel One.
Al-Baz's television persona -- warm smile wrapped in a stylish headscarf -- made the photographs of her wrecked face after the April 10 beating all the more startling. Al-Baz suffered 13 facial fractures and required 12 operations.
Al-Baz, in her 30s, said her husband of six years, singer Mohammed Bakr al-Fallatta, had beaten her before. But she said the April 10 attack was especially vicious, and that she thought he wanted to kill her. He has not been seen since he drove her to the hospital and left her at the front doors.
Renee
A truly brave woman.
Thanks for the update.
Maybe this will give others the courage expose this hidden shame against women.