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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A woman who had been reportedly set ablaze by her husband in Sulaimani died after spending five days in the hospital with serious burns, a family member told Rudaw on Wednesday.
Shnyar Hunar, 21, and a mother of two was allegedly burnt alive by her husband earlier this week. She died of severe burn injuries on Wednesday morning, her uncle, Sirwan Sardar, told Rudaw.
The husband was arrested shortly after the incident and is being investigated by police in Sulaimani.
The lawyer representing Hunar's case told reporters on Wednesday that "the main suspect in the case has been arrested ... and a warrant has been issued for the arrest of another person," without disclosing further details.
Hunar’s death is the most recent in a series of women killings in the Kurdistan Region, which are often linked with the terms “social dispute” and “honor killings,” that perpetrators use to justify murdering their mothers, sisters, daughters, or wives.
A few hours after Hunar's death, the Kurdistan Regional Government's (KRG) Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani, said it hurts to "live in a society where men think it is normal to threaten, torture and kill women," adding that what is more painful is "the shameless demeanor of our society."
"It is time to end the culture of women killing, because there is no honor in killing women," Talabani noted.
The Region suffers from high rates of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, domestic violence, so-called honor violence, child marriages, and female genital mutilation.
Maryam Yacoob, an academic and a mother, was gunned down by her husband in Sulaimani last week.
Another woman, whose case remains a mystery, was shot dead by unknown assailants in Koya town earlier this month.
The concerning increase of murders comes despite the Kurdistan Region’s efforts to end gender-based violence and so-called honor killings.
In December, it launched an app to tackle violence against women. It also set up a support hotline for victims of violence in 2018, about seven years after the KRG passed its Combating Domestic Violence Law, criminalizing domestic violence and equipping the directorate to combat violence by investigating it.
“We must bolster efforts to challenge the toxic masculinity and patriarchal social norms that continue to result in violence. Together we must advocate for the prosecution of perpetrators and the strengthening of the Kurdistan Region Law to Combat Domestic Violence,” read a statement from the Erbil-based NGO SEED Foundation on Tuesday.
Twenty-four women were killed in the Region in the past year, according to statistics from the Directorate of Combatting Violence against Women.
Updated at 12:21 pm
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