Growing violence against Syrian women | Murder of Aya El-Refaay by her husband provokes people’s uproar

The murder of Aya El-Refaay, a 19-year-old Syrian female, by her husband has ignited public anger. This murder is a new crime added to the list of violations against Syrian women by their husbands.

The story dates back to December 31, 2021, when a young woman arrived in Al-Mojtahed Hospital in Damascus after being resuscitated by her husband and his family. According to the hospital forensic department, there were signs of torture and severe beating on her body.
The police branch in the hospital has summoned the husband for interrogation but his family bribed the police.

The case has turned into an issue of public opinion in the Syrian streets which urged the general prosecutor in Damascus to open investigations and unveiled details of the crime that was committed by the husband.

Aya El-Refaay’s neighbours tell more details

El-Rafaay was a 19-year-old woman who married at a young age and had a one-year-old baby girl. The victim lived with her husband’s family in Al-Mojtahed neighbourhood in Damascus and she was subject to daily torture for a long time by her husband and his mother and even her husband’s 13-year-old nephew who was living in the same house., and her screams were heard by the neighbours. Meanwhile, the victim’s husband has married another lady, one of his mother’s relatives.

Not the only victim with similar conditions, El-Refaay was one of the thousand Syrian women who were tortured by husbands. However, her case has turned into an issue of public opinion while many women are still tortured and beaten in a deafening silent society, even in full view of parents.

Also, on December 31, a two-year-old child died in Hawran neighbourhood. The child was a victim of his parent’s divorce. His father, shortly after the divorce, has married and took the child to live with him and his new wife.

The father told his ex-wife that their boy died after falling on the house stairs.

However, the forensic medicine report proved that the child died of severe torture and many bruises were found on the body especially on the head and face.

According to the neighbours, the child has been severely beaten by his father and stepmother. He died in Ankhal city in north-west Daraa countryside.