A Small Victory, But We'll Take It

The case of a tortured Afghan child bride whose treatment shocked the world has led to three members of her husband's family being jailed for 10 years, an official said on Saturday.

Sahar Gul, 15, who was burned and beaten and had her fingernails pulled out was found in the basement of her husband's house last December in northeastern Baghlan province, where she had been locked in a toilet for six months.

"The court sentenced her father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister-in-law each to 10 years in prison on Tuesday," Afghanistan's supreme court spokesman Abdul Wakil Omari told AFP.

Hell yes, finally.  We covered this a long time ago, when the story originally broke.  I have kept Sahar's story on my follow-up list and waited, praying for the world to care about this young woman who was treated so badly that reading the story makes tears of rage come to my eyes.

Some groups protest that it isn't enough, and they are right.  There is no price tag on abuse of this level, no amount of punishment can ever make this right.  But ten years is a good start, and in a country where this is still considered acceptable by portions of the public, the best they're going to get.

Still think women have a fair chance in this world?  Read this:

According to figures by British charity organisation Oxfam, 87 percent of Afghan women report having experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage.

Yeah.  Keep fighting, but let victories like this encourage us to focus.