Abused Afghan women opt for suicide

AlJazeeraEnglish
November 29, 2009
For many women trapped in abusive marriages in Afghanistan, death can seem like the only way out.

In the northwestern province of Herat, doctors this year have treated at least seventy women who attempted to take their own lives by setting themselves on fire.

More than 40 of them died, in what doctors describe as a lingering and painful process.

Al Jazeera's David Chater reports from Herat where he speaks to one woman who said she saw self-immolation as a means to escape a lifetime of abuse.