French court jails Pakistani man for burning woman

A French court has jailed a Pakistani man for 20 years for setting his ex-girlfriend alight after she refused to marry him, in a case seen by rights activists as highlighting violence against women in poor suburban neighbourhoods. Amer Mushtaq Butt, 28, doused Chahrazade Belayni with petrol and set fire to her on the street as she was leaving her home in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Marne in 2005. She suffered third-degree burns on 60 percent of her body, went into a coma and underwent numerous operations. Belayni is now 21 and works for the police. Butt fled to Pakistan after the attack but returned to France a year later. He pleaded guilty at his trial, saying it was a crime of passion.

Human rights groups such as the prominent “Ni Putes Ni Soumises” (“Neither whores nor submissives”, NPNS) say violence against women is rife in poor communities in the outskirts of French cities.

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