Domestic violence exposed

Riyadh

A prominent Saudi Arabian TV host declared publicly this week that her husband brutally beat her. Rania al-Baz, the host of a popular morning show, allowed Saudi newspapers to publish photos of her bruised face, swollen with 13 fractures. “I want to use what happened to me to draw attention to the plight of women in Saudi Arabia,” al-Baz said. Women cannot drive or vote in the kingdom, which is governed by strict Islamic sharia law, and domestic violence is widespread, but officially ignored. Al-Baz is missing her regular TV appearances while she recovers in the hospital, where her husband dropped her off before fleeing.

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