Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Afghan Poet Beaten to Death
Police found the body of Afghan poet Nadia Anjuman at the home she and her husband shared. The 25-year-old rising literary star died this weekend after being knocked unconscious by her husband, Farid Ahmad Majid Mia. Anjuman was an undergraduate student of literature at Herat University, and this year published her first collection of poems, "Gule Dudi" which means "Dark Flower." "She was especially famous among the female poets in Herat," and was to publish a second volume next year, said Ahmad Sayed Haqiqi, a local journalist and colleague of Ms. Anjuman in Herat's Cultural Association. Her husband was an administrator in the literature department of the same university.
This is a tragic loss for Afghanistan," U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said of the slaying. "Domestic violence is a concern. This case illustrates how bad this problem is here and how it manifests itself. Women face exceptional challenges."
Her husband confessed to the beating, but denied that he had killed Anjuman. The woman's mother was at home at the time and is suspected of having had a role in the death. Both were arrested, but no charges were immediately filed. The Pajhwok News Agency reported that the family has refused to have her body autopsied.
She is survived by a six-month old daughter.
--posted by jenn mcc
