A five-month pregnant woman who was allegedly set on fire by her husband has died after 11 days fighting for her life in a hospital in northern Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city.
Confirming that Hana Khodor, 21, had died, a security source told The National that Lebanon's Internal Security Forces had arrested her husband. He was not identified.
According to reports, Khodor's husband allegedly set her on fire because she refused to have an abortion and he was worried they could not afford to raise another child.
A Tripoli-based doctor told The National that Khodor had 100 per cent body burns, adding “no one survive[s] with this type of burn”.
Khodor, whose unborn baby also died, had two children.
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November 1, 2019: Banks implement capital controls after shutting for two weeks. Reuters -
March 2020: Lebanon defaults on its sovereign debt for the first time in its history, amid protests in the country. AFP -
April 2020: The government of Hassan Diab, prime minister at the time, pictured with President Michel Aoun, approves a financial recovery plan. Reuters -
May 1, 2020: Mr Diab's government requests assistance from the International Monetary Fund. The Association of Banks in Lebanon rejects the plan. Reuters -
May 20, 2020: the ABL presents an alternative plan. Reuters -
July 1, 2020: a Parliamentary fact-finding committee backs the ABL. The IMF suspends negotiations with Lebanon. AP -
August 10, 2020: Mr Diab resigns following a devastating explosion at Beirut’s port, in which at least 232 people died and 7,000 were injured. AP -
September 10, 2021: Najib Mikati, fourth from right, forms a government. AFP -
January 2022: Lebanon re-starts negotiations with the IMF. Reuters -
April 7, 2022: The IMF and Lebanon reach a staff-level agreement. AFP -
May 15, 2022: Lebanon holds parliamentary elections. EPA -
May 20, 2022: Mr Mikati’s government approves a new financial recovery plan. Reuters -
May 24, 2022: The ABL rejects the plan. The local currency hits the record low of 34,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar – 95 per cent lower than the official rate. Reuters
Elsewhere, in the Akkar region, a video shared on social media appeared to show a mother of three being beaten and humiliated by her husband. The man allegedly sent the video of the abuse of Ghinwa Alawi to her family to taunt them. Ms Alawi reportedly unsuccessfully attempted to take her own life.
Violence against women and girls — whether through child marriage, harassment, trafficking, murder and more — remains widespread in Lebanon despite the introduction of laws that were supposed to protect women.
Lebanon’s competing crises, from Covid-19 to its continuing economic collapse, have increased the risk of abuse taking place.
The economic collapse that first became apparent in 2019 has pushed much of Lebanon into poverty, with the local currency sinking more than 90 per cent against the dollar on the black market.
Inflation is rampant, and there are widespread shortages of basic essentials, including medicines, bread, water and electricity.
The country's public debt ballooned to more than $100 billion — about 212 per cent of gross domestic product — in 2021.
Claudine Aoun, the head of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, warned last year that “unequal power relationships are the premise and prelude to gender-based violence”.
“The compounding crises facing Lebanon have only added new layers to that social and societal phenomenon,” she said.
Research published in 2021 found that the online sexual harassment of women had doubled during Covid-19-related lockdowns, while security forces reported a sharp rise in domestic violence. The millions of refugees in Lebanon and domestic workers are at particular risk.
