Husband arrested in Bangladesh
A University of British Columbia master’s student has been blinded during an attack while visiting her family in Bangladesh and her nose has been partially bitten off. The violence was allegedly committed by her husband, Hassan Syeed, who was arrested June 15.
“He has made my world dark. I can’t see my daughter,” she told reporters in a Dhaka hospital, according to the newspaper The Daily Star.
UBC president Stephen Toope wrote a statement about the community’s sadness at the incident. “This tragic occasion is a poignant marker of the need to work to protect the fundamental human right of all women to pursue education,” he said.
Manzur was pursing her master’s degree in political science at UBC while her family remained in Dhaka. Reports suggest her husband accused her of cheating before the attack. There will be a rally in support of her in Vancouver on Sunday, reports the Globe and Mail.