Imprisoned in a Box, Set on Fire; The Story of Azam, Society, Law

The public release of shocking images of a young woman who, along with her two young daughters, was imprisoned and tortured by her addicted husband for 21 days in Mashhad has created a wave of shock and disbelief on social media. ISNA news agency published a photographic report on Friday (April 21) showing the signs of torture and injury on Azam's body and face. Her two daughters, five and eight years old, named Hediyeh and Hanieh, not only witnessed their mother's torture by their father during these 21 days but also did not receive 'water and food.' According to Azam's account, her addicted husband, suspecting her of having a 'relationship with another man,' would place her inside a closed metal box without oxygen and set a fire underneath it to suffocate her. In addition to burn marks and injuries on Azam's body and a broken nose, it has been reported that her husband 'tore her anus with a knife,' broke Hanieh's jaw and three teeth with heavy blows, and intended to 'suffocate' his young children. ISNA's reporter noted that Azam's husband had repeatedly acted violently towards her during their 12 years of marriage. Azam, who had previously sought medical help three times due to her husband's violent behavior and had filed complaints after obtaining medical evidence of injury, stated that she 'withdrew her complaints due to fear of her husband's threats and the prospect of her children being left fatherless.' Reports indicate that Azam's husband initially used opium and later turned to 'crystal and glass,' which caused him to suffer from severe 'delusions.' ISNA's reporter wrote that Azam's husband brought a man he suspected of having a relationship with Azam to their home, and when this man saw the family's situation, he contacted the police, who eventually managed to arrest Azam's husband after he had fled. Azam and her two daughters were placed in the care of the Welfare Organization and transferred to medical facilities due to their poor physical condition. According to Nasrin, Azam's sister-in-law, this suspect, who also 'beat' his own parents and caused his mother's death, intended to kill his wife and two children, burn their bodies, and throw them into a well, later claiming that 'they left home on their own and had a quarrel.' Azam's husband had destroyed all his identification documents and shared his intent to murder his family with his friends. Nasrin recounted, 'Once, when Azam had come to their house to stay away from her husband, he sent a wrapped book as a peace offering, but when we opened the book, we found a knife inside as a threat.' Azam's family is worried about his release on bail by friends who had previously gotten him out of jail. However, as reported by the Khorasan newspaper quoting Ali Mohammadi Rad, the deputy prosecutor of Mashhad, 'Given the importance of this case and the existence of documented evidence and witnesses, there is a possibility of converting his current imprisonment to temporary detention.' Mohammadi Rad stated that 'the story of the torture and imprisonment of this mother and her children by her ruthless husband began on the night of last year's Charshanbe Suri.' He added that Hanieh and Hediyeh, due to witnessing their mother's 'brutal torture,' have suffered psychological damage and are currently under the care of a specialized psychiatric team. Addiction, poverty, violence, and societal indifference. ISNA reported that Azam's parents have passed away, and her brother, despite being aware of Azam and her daughters' dire situation, has shown no concern for his sister's condition. Marzieh Mohibi, one of the three lawyers representing Azam, stated that this woman had also been subjected to 'severe physical abuse' in 2014 and 2015 and had sought medical help, with documents available, but her vulnerability and lack of social support have once again pushed her into the jaws of violence with increased intensity. She criticized the absence of 'any' punishment for 'perpetrators of gender-based violence in criminal laws' in Iran, adding that 'what exists are merely general punishments; the law regarding women's security has been written, but it has stalled in the middle of the legislative process.' Ms. Mohibi continued that 'the family regulations not only do not prevent violence against women but also the difficulty and lengthy process of handling women's divorce cases expose them to prolonged, continuous, and persistent violence.' She also criticized civil society for 'turning a deaf ear to the cries of victims of domestic violence' and forgetting their 'obligation' in this regard, calling for society to play a role in relation to 'victimized' individuals. Simultaneously with this lawyer's criticism of society's indifference to acts of violence and victims of violence, the Law newspaper also criticized 'society and officials' for their indifference to the increase in violence in its Saturday (April 22) issue. This newspaper, in a report titled 'Invisible Inaction,' wrote, 'The disturbing inaction of certain groups of people and officials in the face of incidents like Azam's is a bitter reality that has been a factor in the continuation of stories like Azam's in recent years.' To prove the increase in indifference among some citizens to what is happening around them, the newspaper added that this has led to 'even individuals such as the officials at Azam's daughter's school not following up on her situation during the days she was imprisoned.' Shahindokht Molaverdi, the Vice President for Women and Family Affairs, also indirectly identified the main cause of violence against Azam and her daughters as the 'destructive plague of addiction.' She wrote, 'I can only continue reading the report sent by the ISNA social reporter halfway through due to the severity and extent of the violence inflicted on Azam and her two daughters over 21 days, and I am looking for the cause of all this unusually rapid savagery in the report and come to what I suspected: addiction is this destructive plague.' Ms. Molaverdi reminded that this 'horrific and unbelievable' news was published just one day after Father's Day in Iran. Azam's lawyer stated, 'Only the active participation of the government, civil society, the perpetrator, and the victim can lift the heavy and terrifying burden of this violence from the shoulders of this woman, her children, and the psyche of society and pave the way for the return of the unfortunate man whose easy access to drugs turned him into a dangerous monster.'