Another Saudi Face: TV Presenter Is Beaten Up By Husband

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 4-16-2004 | Robun Gedye

[blam]

Another Saudi face: TV presenter is beaten up by husband

By Robin Gedye
(Filed: 16/04/2004)

A Saudi television presenter who was beaten unconscious by her husband has allowed pictures of her severely battered face to be published in an attempt to highlight the abuse of women in the kingdom.

Rania al-Baz, who works for Saudi Arabia's state television's Channel One, is having a series of operations for 13 fractures to her face. She said she wanted to break the taboo on domestic violence.

"I want to use what happened to me to draw attention to the plight of women in Saudi Arabia," she added.

Her case has attracted outrage from the handful of women's groups that exist in Saudi Arabia.

Mohammed al-Fallatta, her husband, an out-of-work singer, has disappeared and is wanted by police on charges of attempted murder.

According to Rania's mother, al-Fallatta beat his wife regularly. This time he was infuriated because she answered the telephone. "She told me she begged him not to hit her and he replied, 'Hit you? I am not going to hit you, I am going to kill you.' "

Rania told her mother: "He took his hands off my throat long enough for me to say, 'There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is His prophet' three times, then I surrendered my soul to Allah. Mohammed then went on to choke and beat me some more until I lost consciousness."

He bundled her up in a sheet and put her in a van. When Rania regained consciousness, she thought he was taking her to be buried.

Her mother said: "When he heard her moaning and trying to speak he must have panicked because he took her to hospital where he told staff she was the victim of a road accident and was dead."

Dima al-Sulaiman, the director of the National Home Health Foundation, said the abuse of women "is a very common problem in Saudi Arabia where maltreatment starts from childhood".

Dina Arif, a businesswoman, said: "Saudi men think that violent behaviour is the way to solve problems."

[Hand em their arse]

Saudi men = oxymoron!!

[McGavin999]

Beat women, hide behind them in battle, using children to fight for them. There is something seriously wrong with that society.

[McGavin999]

OMG, those pictures are horrible. Such a beautiful woman, and look at what he did to her.

[joesnuffy]

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains, And the women come out to cut up what remains, Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

A bit of Kipling's tribute to Muslim women....

[Tacis]

As a Saudi woman, she deserved whatever her husband chose to give her. It is written.

[Alouette]

Such a beautiful woman, and look at what he did to her.

What happened to this woman was even worse. (Warning: very graphic mutilation photos)

[neutrino]

And remember - this is what the mo-slimes do to their own wives/daughters/sisters/mothers.

Now what do you suppose they will do to the women of America if given the chance?

The world will not be safe until this cult ceases to exist.

[sarasmom]

Not really a direct comparison.
It has been many years ago that a man beating a women was widely tolerated by this society.
It srill happens everywhere in the USA, all too often, but very few people still consider it normal or acceptable behavior.

[yankeedame]

Those pictures and the words of her husband should be sent to every Leftist "women's rights" group in America.

Who will "look into it" after they finish resolving the far more important women's concern such a being able to play golf at Augusta, and securing same-sex marriages.

[Buggman]

It's not as graphic, but here's some more stories of Muslims "protecting" their women.

[Rollee]

But in Tennessee, I suspect, just like in Illinois, women sometimes fight back.

[Aussie Kim]

Please don't tar _all_ Saudi men. I know a few (no, I have not met many, admittedly)who are kind and comparatively progressive. Of course, they now live _here_ and not there, so they bring down the numbers of kind men over there.

And it's not Islam that makes these men so cruel to their women. It's the mis-interpretation of their religion and their insanely misogynistic culture that encourages them.

The Q'ran states that "paradise is under the feet of the mother" and time and time again states that women must be respected, protected, loved and cared for.

But people are so stupid, so under-educated and so powerless that all some of them can do is beat up weaker ones.

It's the culture that needs to be changed - Saudi Arabia is not really a properly Islamic country - if it _were_ it would not have a royal family (and do we know who installed Saudi's royal family last century?), and its women would not be caged, beaten and would be allowed to take part in public life. They'd be allowed to drive cars, too.

Some of the Prophet Mohammed's wives were business women, they were teachers and they took part in society as respected, loved people.

The Saudis (and others) need to try to remember this.

Kim...

[BobS]

This is sick. Real men don't fight with a woman because there is no winning. When men must argue OVER a woman, the relationship is already over for all three and it's time to move along.

Violence is the usual outlet for a society in decline. We have our own too.

[Heatseeker]

I can second Eala's recommendation (see #13 above) of "The Arab Mind" by Raphael Patai. While it is true that traditional Arab culture plays a role, I do not believe Islam as currently understood by most who practice it is blameless either. Let's face it, Mohammed had some "issues" with women himself from his boy-toy years with Khadija.

[Commie Basher]

Religion of peace!!!!

What a mindless, knee-jerk, gratuitous statement. As if domestic violence is unknown in the US. As if no Christian or Jewish man ever hit his wife.

[Commie Basher]

Islam MUST BE... MUST BE destroyed.

If incidents of domestic violence means Islam must be desttoryed, you'd better add Judaism and Christianity to the list, because Jewish domestic violence and Christian domestic violence are not uncommon.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Dina Arif, a businesswoman, said: "Saudi men think that violent behaviour is the way to solve problems."

Ya think???

[Ignatz]

Some of the Prophet Mohammed's wives were business women, they were teachers and they took part in society as respected, loved people.

At least one was either nine or thirteen years old, I forget which. So some were molested children as well.

[Ignatz]

What a mindless, knee-jerk, gratuitous statement. As if domestic violence is unknown in the US. As if no Christian or Jewish man ever hit his wife.

It does happen in all cultures, I'm sure. But in Judaism and Christianity it's not condoned. It is in Islam, yet they call Islam a "religion of peace".

[bondjamesbond]

...you'd better add Judaism and Christianity to the list,...

Ya know, when Diane Sawyer's husband beats her to a bloody pulp, leaves her for dead, and is allowed to walk away from the hospital and escape punishment, I'll entertain your notion that there is some moral equivalence here...