BEIRUT // For 25 years Sahar has been living in fear.
From the beginning of her relationship with her husband, she knew something was very wrong. He was intensely jealous, self-centred and would lash out at her for no apparent reason. He and her family refused to let her end the relationship, however. She felt trapped and the emotional and physical abuse only got worse.
But it was the years of sexual violence - being routinely raped by her own husband - that has left her feeling "destroyed", says the mother of two, whose name has been changed to protect her identity.
"The sexual abuse hurts me the most. I don't love him. I hate him. I feel every time he is killing me," she says. "This act is killing my humanity ... He's very aggressive and if I tell him he is hurting me he doesn't care. If I push him a bit, he just increases the force."
Sahar, who is in her 50s, says the years of severe abuse have left her all but broken.
"I see him as an animal," she says.
But a coalition of Lebanese women's groups is working to provide women like Sahar with greater protection against domestic violence.
Kafa - Arabic for "enough" - is among the organisations pushing for tough legislation to protect women from family violence, including the criminalisation of spousal rape.
Marital, or spousal, rape is non-consensual sex when the perpetrator is the victim's spouse. It is illegal in more than 100 countries, but current Lebanese rape laws - just as in many other Arab states, including the UAE - do not apply to marital relationships.
"Rape is rape regardless of who commits it," said Maya Ammar, Kafa's media officer. "The penal law in Lebanon does not protect women from being raped by their husbands."
The coalition began drafting the new law in 2007 in a bid to overhaul the way domestic violence is handled. Their draft bill called for special units to investigate cases of family violence, women to have the right to take out restraining orders against abusive family members and stipulated that medical professionals should be required to report what they believe was domestic violence. The bill was approved by the Lebanese cabinet in 2010, before moving to a parliamentary committee.
However, campaigners are now concerned about the extent to which the bill's language has been diluted by the eight-member committee - seven men and one woman - reviewing the legislation.
A series of leaks from the committee and media reports have indicated that key provisions, including language that would criminalise marital rape, have been amended or removed.
Last December, one of the committee members, Imad Al Hout, told the Daily Star newspaper that "there's nothing called rape between a husband and a wife. It's called forcing someone violently to have intercourse".
But it is not just the removal of key provisions in the draft that have supporters concerned. An article that would give precedence to religious courts in domestic violence cases was added by the cabinet before it even reached the committee - a move Ms Ammar described as the "one of most dangerous" changes to the draft.
Currently, family law falls under the jurisdiction of Lebanon's 15 religious courts, which traditionally favour reconciliation and maintaining the family unit. Supporters of the initial legislation wanted the cases to be tried in civil court.
While the draft is still called the Law to Protect Women from Family Violence, Kafa said it has been extended to include men, children and the elderly. The group believes that the law's strength had been in its specific provisions for the protection for women.
"You can make changes and amendments, but you cannot make horrendous amendments to the law that will distort it and also amendments that do not respect basic human rights," said Ms Ammar.
Resistance to the initial version has come from conservative and religious groups, amid accusations that the law would undermine families. Pressure has been exerted from religious authorities including Lebanon's highest Sunni body, Dar Al Fatwa, and the Shiite Higher Council.
The committee, which has been reviewing the bill since April last year, is now expected to issue its final draft within the next few weeks, and then put it to a parliamentary vote.
As the draft has appeared to falter, campaigners have tried to refocus attention on violence against women, particularly marital rape.
A researcher at the American University of Beirut, Jinan Usta, found in her studies that at least one third of Lebanese women had experienced some form of gender-based violence.
About 350 women seek help from Kafa each year. Most are victims of domestic violence. The organisation also found that between May 2010 and May 2011, 12 women were killed by their husbands in Lebanon.
The women's groups involved in the campaign are determined to keep up the pressure. At a demonstration last Saturday in Beirut, a few dozen people, some dressed in black and carrying a coffin, marched in a mock funeral for a woman killed by her husband.
"It's to make the parliament feel guilty about the death of women from family violence," Ms Ammar said.
zconstantine@thenational.ae
England's all-time record goalscorers:
Wayne Rooney 53
Bobby Charlton 49
Gary Lineker 48
Jimmy Greaves 44
Michael Owen 40
Tom Finney 30
Nat Lofthouse 30
Alan Shearer 30
Viv Woodward 29
Frank Lampard 29
Mina Cup winners
Under 12 – Minerva Academy
Under 14 – Unam Pumas
Under 16 – Fursan Hispania
Under 18 – Madenat
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
T20 World Cup Qualifier
Final: Netherlands beat PNG by seven wickets
Qualified teams
1. Netherlands
2. PNG
3. Ireland
4. Namibia
5. Scotland
6. Oman
T20 World Cup 2020, Australia
Group A: Sri Lanka, PNG, Ireland, Oman
Group B: Bangladesh, Netherlands, Namibia, Scotland
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
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Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
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The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre supercharged V6
Power: 416hp at 7,000rpm
Torque: 410Nm at 3,500rpm
Transmission: 6-speed manual
Fuel consumption: 10.2 l/100km
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Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
- Park in shaded or covered areas
- Add tint to windows
- Wrap your car to change the exterior colour
- Pick light interiors - choose colours such as beige and cream for seats and dashboard furniture
- Avoid leather interiors as these absorb more heat
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Tewellah by Nawal Zoghbi is out now.
Series info
Test series schedule 1st Test, Abu Dhabi: Sri Lanka won by 21 runs; 2nd Test, Dubai: Play starts at 2pm, Friday-Tuesday
ODI series schedule 1st ODI, Dubai: October 13; 2nd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 16; 3rd ODI, Abu Dhabi: October 18; 4th ODI, Sharjah: October 20; 5th ODI, Sharjah: October 23
T20 series schedule 1st T20, Abu Dhabi: October 26; 2nd T20, Abu Dhabi: October 27; 3rd T20, Lahore: October 29
Tickets Available at www.q-tickets.com
Stat Fourteen Fourteen of the past 15 Test matches in the UAE have been decided on the final day. Both of the previous two Tests at Dubai International Stadium have been settled in the last session. Pakistan won with less than an hour to go against West Indies last year. Against England in 2015, there were just three balls left.
Key battle - Azhar Ali v Rangana Herath Herath may not quite be as flash as Muttiah Muralitharan, his former spin-twin who ended his career by taking his 800th wicket with his final delivery in Tests. He still has a decent sense of an ending, though. He won the Abu Dhabi match for his side with 11 wickets, the last of which was his 400th in Tests. It was not the first time he has owned Pakistan, either. A quarter of all his Test victims have been Pakistani. If Pakistan are going to avoid a first ever series defeat in the UAE, Azhar, their senior batsman, needs to stand up and show the way to blunt Herath.
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
