"It was a dark and dingy room, where an elderly woman asked me to take off my panties, made me sit on a low wooden stool with my legs parted and then did something…I screamed out in pain," recalls Alefia Mustansir, 40, of her childhood experience.
In 2008 Egypt outlawed the practice of female genital mutilation, but as Newsnight's Sue Lloyd-Roberts reports in an article which contains graphic detail and which some readers may find disturbing, the ban has had little effect and the practice is still rife.
A pair of Saudi women have demanded courts hear their suit against the Interior Ministry and give them driver's licenses.
The charges allege the woman was first locked away at age 11, and was allowed out only at night to clean the house, do laundry and cook.
Every year, an estimated 10 million girls worldwide are married before they turn 18, usually with no say in when or whom they marry.
Dowries – such as jewelry, clothes, cars and money – are traditionally given by the bride’s family to the groom and his parents to ensure she is taken care of in her new home.
The accusations were based on the accounts of the 40 victims “all of whom gave almost a similar story on what they faced,” Rasha Moumneh, HRW's Middle East and North Africa researcher, told a press conference in Kuwait City.
Boyfriend could not control rage after his marriage proposal was turned down
when the husband was away from home he attempted to have sex with his daughter-in-law and she cut off his penis with a knife
In March after news reports surfaced on women having been tortured during their detentions, Amnesty International gathered the testimonies of women protesters subjected to forced “virginity tests” and wrote to SCAF requesting an investigation.
