The cover of Time magazine shows the shocking image of a young Afghan girl named Aisha who was disfigured when her husband sliced off her nose and ears. But rather than serve as an example of intolerable spousal abuse, this is instead a sample of the Taliban’s justice: Aisha’s husband was acting with the sanction of the local Taliban commander who served as judge and jury for her crime of fleeing her abusive husband and in-laws, who beat her regularly and treated her “like a slave”. 

Aisha’s case is not part of a dark past under the Taliban rule of a decade ago.  Rather it is an example of a disturbing present where sharia justice is being meted out against women in the most brutal of ways. And it isn’t just happening in Afghanistan. Take the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43 year-old widow and mother of two boys who was initially sentenced to “death by stoning” in Iran for having an “illicit relationship” with a man. After a public outcry, word came in mid-July that the stoning would not take place.  But before anyone rejoices in Iran making a concession to a modern value system that doesn’t punish behavior that in any other culture would not only be perfectly legal but socially unremarkable, Ashitani’s death sentence remains in force.  Now she will likely be hanged for her crime instead.