"Dark Red Flower"

Nadia Anjuman
(1980-2005)

Nadia Anjuman, age 25, died Sunday, Nov. 6, in Herat, Afghanistan. It appears she was beaten to death. Her husband, who confessed to striking her on Friday, has been apprehended, as has her mother.

Anjuman published her first book of poems this year, a collection entitled “Gul-e-dodi, which means dark red flower.” Her work was especially popular among women in Afghanistan and Iran.

A piece in the Middle East Times reports, “Under the fundamentalist Taliban regime of 1996-2001 women were denied the right to education and could not even leave their homes without a male member of the family.

“Women have been given more freedom since the Taliban were toppled in a US-led campaign in late 2001. But rights groups say that (women) are still mistreated by men, including through sexual and domestic violence.”

United Nations spokesman Adrian Edwards called Anjuman’s death, “tragic and a great loss to Afghanistan.” He added that “violence against women remains dramatic in Afghanistan—in its intensity and its pervasiveness.”

A tribute from someone who knew her.

Anjuman leaves behind her Dark Red Flower and a six-month-old daughter.