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Acid attack

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Acid throwing victim, Cambodia

Acid throwing or vitriolage is a form of violent assault.[1] Perpetrators of these attacks throw acid at their victims (usually at their faces), burning them, and damaging skin tissue, often exposing and sometimes dissolving the bones.[2] The consequences of these attacks include blindness and permanent scarring of the face and body.[3][4][5] These attacks are common in Cambodia,[6] Afganistan,[7] India,[8] Bangladesh,[3][4] Pakistan[3] and other Asian countries.[5] According to Taru Bahl and M.H. Syed 80% of victims of these acid attack are female and almost 40% are under 18 years of age.[5]

Attacks

In South Asia, acid throwing attacks have been used as a form of revenge for refusal of sexual advances, proposals of marriage and demands for dowry.[3] Scholars Taru Bahl and M.H. Syed say that land disputes are another leading cause.[5] In Bangladesh, where such attacks are relatively common, they are mostly a form of domestic violence.[9] Tom O'Neill of National Geographic reported that acid throwing is also used to enforce the caste system in modern India, where uppercaste individuals often attack Dalits for supposedly violating the order.[10] In Cambodia, it was reported that these attacks were mostly carried out by wives against their husbands' lovers.[6]. According to New York Times reporter Nicholas D. Kristof, acid attacks are at an all time high in Pakistan and increasing every year. The attacks are typically the work of men against their wives who have "dishonored them"[1]

According to a Rand Corporation commentary, hundreds of women in Pakistan, Kashmir and Afghanistan have been blinded or maimed "when acid was thrown on their unveiled faces by male fanatics who considered them improperly dressed".[11] Attacks or threats of attacks on women who failed to wear hijab or were otherwise "immodestly dressed" have been reported in other countries as well.[12][13][14][15]

The chemical agents most commonly used to commit these attacks are hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid. According to Mridula Bandyopadhyay and Mahmuda Rahman Khan, it is a form of violence primarily targeted at women. They describe it as a relatively recent form of violence, with the earliest record in Bangladesh from 1983.[3] The scholar Afroza Anwary points out that acid violence occurs not only in Bangladesh but also in Pakistan, China, Ethiopia and has occurred historically in Europe.[16]

Victims and treatment

The victim is damaged both physically and psychologically and may require long-term surgical treatment. The physical scarring can lead to survivors feeling shame and embarrassment, and suffering prejudice and stigma from their peers.[17] The Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) provides aid in treating victims of acid attacks in Bangladesh.[16] Additionally, Nairpokkho and Action Aid assist acid attack survivors. In Cambodia, LICADHO, the Association of the Blind in Cambodia and the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) assist survivors. In Pakistan 'Depilex Smileagain Foundation' is working for women who have been burnt by acid or kerosene oil, providing them free reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation, and vocational training.[18]

Legislation

In 2002, Bangladesh introduced the death penalty for throwing acid and laws strictly controlling the sales of acids.[19]

Under the Qisas law of Pakistan, the perpetrator must suffer the same fate as the victim, and may be punished by having drops of acid placed in their eyes.[20]. This law is not binding and is rarely enforced according to a New York Times report[2]. Iran has a similar law, and sentenced an attacker to be blinded in 2008.[21]

Acid attacks outside of Asia

While less common than in South Asia, acid attacks occasionally occur in other regions of the world.[citation needed]

Victor Riesel was a broadcast journalist, specializing in labor issues, who was attacked while leaving Lindy's restaurant in midtown Manhattan in the early morning of 5 April 1956.[22][23] Riesel was left blind as a result.[22] The attack was motivated by Riesel's reporting on the influence of organized crime on certain corrupt labor unions.[22]

In 1959, American attorney Burt Pugach hired a man to throw lye in the face of his ex-girlfriend Linda Riss. Riss suffered blindness and permanent scarring. Pugach served 14 years in prison for the incident.[24]

Gabrielle White, a 22-year-old single mother living in Detroit, was attacked on 26 August 2006 by a stranger.[25] She was left with third and fourth degree burns on her face, throat, and arms, leaving her blind and without one ear.[25] She also miscarried her unborn child.[25] In early 2007, Kamilat Mehdi, a 21-year-old woman, was attacked with acid in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, badly disfiguring her face.[26] A 25-year-old nursing student at Merritt College was the victim of an acid attack.[27] Angie Julieth Guevara, a 22-year-old woman, was attacked with acid, apparently on the orders of a neighbor, on 21 December 2007 in Madelena, a neighborhood in the south of Bogotá, Colombia.[28] She was left with burns on her face, arms, and legs.[28]

On 22 December 2008 Konstantina Kouneva, a 44-year old Bulgarian legal immigrant in Greece and unionist working as a cleaning lady for the Oikomet company (providing services to ISAP, among other clients) was attacked with sulfuric acid (vitriol),[29] an event which sparked protests[30] and clashes with the Greek police during the Dekemvriana events.[31]

In fiction

The Batman villain/anti-hero, Harvey Dent a.k.a. Two-face is often portrayed as having acid thrown in his face by a vengeful mob boss. The acid only reaches half of his face, hideously disfiguring it, but leaves the other half unaffected, hence his name.

See also

References

  1. ^ Karmakar, R.N. (2003). Forensic Medicine and Toxicology. Academic Publishers. ISBN 8187504692.
  2. ^ Swanson, Jordan (Spring 2002), "Acid attacks: Bangladesh's efforts to stop the violence.", Harvard Health Policy Review, vol. 3, no. Spring 2002, p. 3, retrieved 2008-06-18 {{citation}}: More than one of |number= and |issue= specified (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e Bandyopadhyay, Mridula and Mahmuda Rahman Khan, 'Loss of face: violence against women in South Asia' in Lenore Manderson, Linda Rae Bennett (eds) Violence Against Women in Asian Societies (Routledge, 2003), ISBN 9780700717412
  4. ^ a b "CNN.com - Bangladesh combats an acid onslaught against women - November 11, 2000". Retrieved 2008-03-13.
  5. ^ a b c d Bahl, Taru & M.H. Syed (2004). Encyclopaedia of the Muslim World. Anmol Publications PVT. LTD. ISBN 9788126114191.
  6. ^ a b Mydans, Seth (2001-07-22). "Vengeance Destroys Faces, and Souls, in Cambodia". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-08-29. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ Ermachild Chavis, melody, Meena, Heroine of Afghanistan (St Martin's Press, 2003), ISBN 978031230689X
  8. ^ A. Carlson Whalen, Mother Earth and the Gene Machines (Vantage Press, 2006), ISBN 9780533153395
  9. ^ Scholte, Marianne (2006-03-17). "Acid Attacks in Bangladesh: A Voice for the Victims". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2008-03-21.
  10. ^ O'Neill, Tom (June 2003), "India's Untouchables", National Geographic, pp. 2–31
  11. ^ "Commentary. "French Tussle Over Muslim Head Scarf is Positive Push for Women's Rights" by Cheryl Benard".
  12. ^ Chavis, Melody Ermachild (2003). Meena, heroine of Afghanistan: the martyr who founded RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan. New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-312-30689-2. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ In 2006 a group in Gaza calling itself "Just Swords of Islam" claimed to have thrown acid at a young woman who was dressed "immodestly," and warned other women to wear the hijab. Khaled Abu Toameh (2006-12-02). "Gaza women warned of immodesty".
  14. ^ Afshin Molavi claims that following the mandating of the covering of hair by women in Iran, "a woman was threatened with an acid attack for not being wearing a hijab". Molavi, Afshin (2005). The soul of Iran: a nation's journey to freedom. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-393-32597-3.
  15. ^ IAmir Taheri claims that in 1985 "an 18-year-old college student at the American University in Beirut was the victim of an acid attack by a group of Hezbollah youths who claimed to object to the way in which she was dressed". Taheri, Amir (1987). Holy terror: the inside story of Islamic Terrorism. New York: Hutchinson. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-09-165970-7.
  16. ^ a b Anwary, Afroza (Spring 2002), "Acid Violence And Medical Care In Bangladesh: Women's Activism as Carework.", Gender & Society, vol. 17, no. 2003, pp. 305–313, doi:10.1177/0891243202250851, retrieved 2008-06-18 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |publsiher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link) Cite error: The named reference "Anwary" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  17. ^ "Long Term Impact of ACID Attack". Retrieved 2008-03-28.
  18. ^ Depilex Smileagain Foundation
  19. ^ Roland Buerk (28 July 2006). "Bangladesh's acid attack problem". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-06-14.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  20. ^ Juliette Terzieff (July 13, 2004). "Pakistan's Acid-Attack Victims Press for Justice". Women's eNews. Retrieved 2008-05-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  21. ^ "Court orders Iranian man blinded". BBC News. 2008-11-28. Retrieved 2008-11-28.
  22. ^ a b c van Gelder, Lawrence (1995-01-05). "Victor Riesel, 81, Columnist Blinded by Acid Attack, Dies". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  23. ^ "Answer by Acid". Time. 1956-04-16. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  24. ^ Weiner, Allison Hope. "For Worse and for Better: Documenting an Obsession". New York Times, January 23, 2007
  25. ^ a b c "Detroit Acid Attack Survivor – Gabrielle White". Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  26. ^ Henshaw, Amber (2007-03-28). "Acid attack on woman shocks Ethiopia". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  27. ^ Harris, Harry (2007-10-05). "Merritt College student scarred after assault". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  28. ^ a b "Una joven manicurista fue agredida con ácido sulfúrico por orden de una vecina". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 2007-12-28. Retrieved 2008-09-09.
  29. ^ IHT
  30. ^ IWW
  31. ^ Protesters clash with riot police over acid attack on syndicalist cleaner in Athens. libcom.org, December 29 2008.

Reports of acid attacks from around the world

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