Acid Attacks Come to Spain

We’ve become accustomed to the grotesque and horrifying reports of acid attacks against women in Pakistan or Afghanistan, at the hands of their irate husbands or spurned suitors. Now the same technique for avenging wounded honor has migrated to Spain along with cultural enrichment.

Many thanks to our Spanish correspondent Hermes for translating this article from today’s Alerta Digital:

A man of Arab background threw sulfuric acid on the face of his Spanish wife

A man of Arab background threw sulfuric acid in his wife’s face. This happened this morning at the door of the victim’s home in Rio Ulla street, no. 9, in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood in Ciudad Lineal district, Madrid. The victim was a 29-year-old Spanish woman who had never previously made any legal complaints of mistreatment directed against her. She had, however, filed for a separation from her husband.

The woman was sprinkled with sulfuric acid while screaming in pain, but she did not lose consciousness, so that she could identify her ex-partner, an Arab man. The assailant was confronted by several passers-by, who were also injured during the attack. They rushed to her aid while shouting for help. Among them was a female pharmacist who noticed what was happening just at the moment the victim was attacked.

The victim remains hospitalized in serious condition in the burn unit at La Paz Hospital. She herself could say in a perfectly lucid state of consciousness that she was in the process of divorcing an Arab man.

After the wounds on her face had been checked, it was confirmed by the health center that her prognosis was grave.

The attacker was also wounded by the sprinkled acid.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.