Fakhra Yunus,Pakistan acid victim commits suicide

Fakhra Yunus, before the attack (L) and after (R), with activist Tehmina Durrani.

Fakhra Yunus jumped out of her sixth-floor apartment in Italy, 13 years after her attack, the Press Trust of India reports. According to a neighbor, Yunus was last seen looking at her marred face in the mirror and weeping.

Yunus, a former prostitute, was 22 when acid was thrown on her allegedly by her husband. Bilal Khar, a cousin of the foreign minister, maintains that he was not behind the attack, though some say he used his political influence to evade arrest, according to the Asian Correspondent.
At the time of her attack in May 2000, her ex-husband Bilal Khar was the man accused of entering her mother's house and pouring acid over Younus's face as she slept.
The attack, which took place in front of Younus's then five-year-old son, left her unable to breathe and fighting for life.
Her nose was almost completely melted and she has since undergone 39 separate surgical procedures to repair her disfigured face over the past decade.
The horrific attack also burned off her hair, fused her lips, blinded her in one eye, destroyed her left ear and melted her breasts.After being rushed to hospital she said, 'My face is a prison to me', while her distraught young son said at the time, 'This is not my mother'.

The mother-of-one moved to Italy after the incident to live in Rome and continue her treatment.
But on March 17 she took her own life, after leaving a message saying she was committing suicide over the silence of law on the atrocities and the insensitivity of Pakistani rulers.
Yunus’ attack became high-profile after she attracted the notice of Pakistani writer and activist Tehmina Durrani, who wrote “My Feudal Lord,” a searing indictment of women’s role in Muslim society. Durrani helped Yunus move to Italy, where she received dozens of plastic surgeries and intensive counseling.
Durrani wrote on on the Pakistani news site The News Daily of Yunus’ death:
“At the young age of 22 an acid attack left her only marginally alive, her horrific mutilation disfigured her so completely that she was now confronted by open disgust and contempt by everyone who set eyes on her in Pakistan. She also became a liability to her own family for whom she was once a source of income.
“I have met many acid victims. Never have I seen one as completely disfigured as Fakhra. She had not just become faceless; her body had also melted to the bone. Despite her stark and hopeless condition, the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was not in the least God-fearing. She was provided nothing...but disdain...and trashed.”

Her ex-husband Bilal Khar (pictured above) was arrested in 2002 and charged with attempted murder following the attack, only to be released on bail after five months.
Many believe he could have used his family connections to escape conviction.
Below, watch the preview for “Saving Face,” which reportedly had once given Yunus hope, below:

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