Woman advised against divorce sets herself on fire

A young woman from Afghanistan who was told by a judge that she should not asked her husband for a divorce set her self on fire outside a court.

According to a local government official, the woman doused herself in petrol that she had concealed beneath her burqa and then set herself on fire outside the small courthouse in Mehtaralam, approximately 100km east of Kabul.

Provincial government spokesman Abdul Wakil Atak told reporters that the flames were doused by bystanders before 25-year-old Pakhtana was taken to hospital with burn injuries.

He commented: "The judge told her she should not ask for divorce. She suddenly jumped out and set herself alight," the AFP reports.

Arranged marriage is common place in Afghanistan, with many women being forced to marry men that they have never met. Divorce is taboo and according to authorities several cases involving women who have set themselves on fire occur every year.

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