THE physical and mental abuse Sana suffered took place over many years and left her isolated, lonely and “psychologically destroyed”.
A Kurdish refugee living in Glasgow, Sana spoke candidly about the extreme violence she suffered at the hands of her former husband and his family.
Sana – we’ve changed her name to protect her identity – is speaking to The Ferret at Freedom From Torture’s (FFT) centre in Glasgow where torture survivors are counselled and helped to rebuild their lives.
She has agreed to talk about her past as part of a new campaign by the charity’s Women Together group which aims to raise awareness about the scale of gender-based violence in the UK and abroad, while urging politicians to ensure there is effective support to help survivors overcome trauma.
Many people supported by FFT in Glasgow are refugee women and all have survived horrific violence in their home countries and also some in Scotland. They include Sana who had to leave Iraqi-Kurdistan for safety. As a child, she was deprived of an education when her father arranged her marriage to an older man who constantly beat her. His parents supported the abusive behaviour and Sana was even separated from her only child.
“Being physically and psychologically tortured daily was not easy to bear, and the pain and suffering were unimaginable,” she explains. “I lost myself and my sense of existence – I felt like I was just nothing. This constant state of fear made me feel even more powerless and trapped.
“Additionally, I was deprived of my right to be a mother, which compounded my feelings of loss and despair.”
Violence against women is endemic in many countries. In the UK, the Government said last year it was treating violence against women and girls (VAWG) as a “national emergency” after it emerged offences in England and Wales had risen by 37% between 2018 and 2023. At least one in every 12 women will be a victim each year, a report by the National Police Chiefs’ Council said, with the exact number of victims expected to be much higher.
In Scotland, where figures are logged differently, there were 14,484 sexual crimes recorded by Police Scotland last year and 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse – an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. That equates to 5322 incidents every month, or around 177 each day.
Only this month, the family of a young mum who died four years ago demanded that police investigate claims her death might not have been suicide. Demi Hannaway, from Airdrie, died in May 2021 after being the subject of physical and mental abuse at the hands of her partner Andrew Brown.
FFT – which campaigns against torture and for the rights of survivors seeking asylum in the UK – is one of many charities helping women who have survived violence. Established in 1985 in England, the UK-wide charity has helped more than 50,000 people from at least 100 nations. Savage beatings, whippings, burnings, cuttings and rape are all common methods of torture, FFT says.
Its Scottish facility opened in Glasgow in July 2004. FFT’s head of clinical services in Scotland, Paula Shiels, says that on a daily basis, staff witness first-hand the “very real impact” that gender-based violence has on people’s lives.
“It’s shameful that the survivors we support, who have endured violence in their home countries, continue to encounter it in this country,” adds Sheils, who is calling on both the Scottish and UK governments to invest in programmes to better protect all women and girls.
The campaign by the Women Together group aims to advance women’s rights and ensure they have better access to vital services such as mental health support and legal assistance. Women from Black and ethnic minority communities who suffer domestic violence often face additional barriers around language, police discrimination and immigration rules, which means crimes may be under-reported.
Twenty women who’ve been counselled by FFT are involved in the campaign. They designed cards with personal messages that were sent to 186 Scots politicians, both MSPs and MPs. The women have been involved in other events including Suicide Prevention Day and 16 Days Of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. They also liaise with the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Migration.
“The group’s primary goal is to create a supportive environment where survivor women can learn about their rights and responsibilities, and have their voices amplified,” says Ahlam Souidi, a community development worker at the charity who works with the group. “One of their key objectives is to influence policy changes by engaging policymakers. This proactive stance not only highlights their commitment to advocating for themselves but also underscores their strategic approach to effecting lasting societal change.”
The Women Together group also acknowledges that violence against women is a global issue. It previously held a rally to support victimised women in Iran and Afghanistan, calling on politicians to take action to support women internationally and combat violence.
Sana tells The Ferret she would like to speak directly with politicians at Holyrood and Westminster about FFT’s campaign. Her life has improved immeasurably since coming to Scotland. Weekly therapy sessions at FFT have helped her recover from the past, and being involved with the Women Together group has helped her to have a “sense of life and purpose”. Previously she “felt invisible”.
Group outings with other members and their children to explore Scotland have been beneficial for both her and her children, she says, helping to break isolation. “I’ve learned how to lead activities and have been valued for the skills I share with others, which is a big change from before when I was made to feel worthless, always wrong and treated like a problem.”
Sana now hopes to study and open a business, a Kurdish restaurant, promoting Kurdish culture while contributing to the Scottish economy. She advises women “not to be prisoners of their fears” and to join campaigns to improve their lives and speak out about their rights.
“I encourage them to open their eyes, not lose hope, and focus on personal development,” she says. “I know that some women are still suffering in silence and are unable to make the first step to seek help, and I want to advocate for them so that they, too, can find the support they need.”
Last year, Rape Crisis Scotland said that the average time survivors are waiting for justice, from offence to conviction at the High Court, was 1125 days, citing a report by the Scottish Government.
The Ferret asked the Scottish Government and opposition parties at Holyrood what their response was to the Women Together campaign. Equalities Minister Kaukab Stewart said violence against women and girls “is abhorrent and we need to challenge outdated stereotypes and attitudes” that allow abuse and violence to persist.
“To see a society free from violence, abuse and misogyny, we must prioritise addressing the root causes of that violence, gender inequality, which is why our Equally Safe strategy sets out a vision to prevent violence from occurring in the first place,” Stewart added.
Pauline McNeill, Scottish Labour’s justice spokesperson, agreed that “violence against women and girls is endemic” in society and Labour support measures to “empower victims” including improving the rights of victims to legal representation, a single point of contact and introducing trauma-informed court practices.
“Our consultation on VAWG highlighted the importance of tackling attitudes of boys and men to women as early as school. There can be no substitute for the work that needs to be done to tackle male attitudes to violence,” she added.
Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal said the “prevalence of gender-based violence is terrifying and completely unacceptable”.
She pointed to her introduction of the Prevention of Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament, a members’ bill that would create a reporting system, similar to the sex offenders’ register, so that “there’s no hiding place for those guilty of this appalling crime”.
It would also increase education around domestic abuse to help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, Gosal claimed. “The bill has received widespread support from stakeholders and MSPs from across the chamber, so it’s essential we now get it on the statute book as soon as possible,” she added.
Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman said that legislation is “part of the answer” and that laws to “criminalise misogynistic behaviour” would help reports of gender-based violence to be “taken seriously”.
Meanwhile, such is the concern over the rise in violence against women in the UK that earlier this month thousands of people attended protest marches. Events happened at 20 locations including Edinburgh.
They were organised by a recently established group called UK Women’s March and held two days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as president in the US. The group was launched in November 2024, protesting against attacks on abortion rights in the US and Britain, as well as violence against women and girls and transphobia.
UK Women’s March said Trump’s second term as US president represented “the entrenchment of misogyny in the highest and most influential office in the world, with inevitable consequences far beyond the US borders”.
Concern has also been voiced by the Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) over the “weaponisation of violence against women for right-wing agendas”. The WRC cited the “unsolicited and racist views on grooming gangs by Elon Musk”.
Its statement said: “When powerful forces like these threaten our progressive values, we have a duty to come together and resist.”
WRC is calling for a National Women’s Fund to “tackle the chronic underfunding crisis faced by women’s organisations providing life-saving services” across the UK.
The Women Together group is a true lifeline for many women who have survived torture and relies entirely on donations.
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