1999 Photo Contest, People in the News, 1st prize
Photographer

Shafiqul Alam Kiron

Map Photo Agency

01 January, 1998

Sonia was 14 when a local boy she had spurned threw acid at her. She lost her sight, but was nursed back to health by her mother. Later, Sonia went to Spain for treatment, and can now see again. An average of eight to ten acid attacks against women are reported every month in Bangladesh. Perpetrators use concentrated sulfuric or nitric acid, easily available from factories. Reasons for attacks vary from family arguments to the failure to provide a dowry.

About the photographer

Shafiqul Alam Kiron

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