Afghanistan's president has ordered an investigation following reports that a 15-year-old girl was locked in her in-laws' basement and tortured. Police say they rescued Sahar Gul last month after her parents said they hadn't seen her for months. The girl had been starved and "we saw her nails had been pulled out by her husband," an official says. "She said with broken voice that her husband used to cut her flesh using pliers."
Sahar, who was married to a 30-year-old man, was reportedly tortured for refusing to be forced into prostitution, CNN notes. Hamid Karzai said the situation "must be seriously investigated" and called for the arrest of the torturers. Now police have nabbed the in-laws, but her husband has escaped. Sahar has been hospitalized. The case illustrates an epidemic of violence against women in Afghanistan, says an official. There were 2,700 recorded cases last year, according to a watchdog group. (More Afghanistan stories.)
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