Pakistani woman commits suicide 12 years after horrific acid attack
Fakhra Younus, 33, leapt to her death from a sixth floor building in Rome 12 years after the acid attack which she said left her looking 'not human'.
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.
Bilal Khar was arrested in 2002 and charged with attempted murder following the attack, only to be released on bail after five months.
Khar, an ex-parliamentarian and son of a wealthy Pakistani governor, was eventually cleared of the attack, though many believe he could have used his family connections to escape conviction.
Tehmina Durrani, the exwife of Bilal Khar's father, had become an advocate for Younus after the attack, and said the acid attack victim had pledged to bring her attacker to justice when she had recovered.
'I think this whole country should be extremely embarrassed that a foreign country took responsibility for a Pakistani citizen for 13 years because we could give her nothing, not justice, not security,' said Durrani.