Lebanese woman set on fire by husband in row over unwanted pregnancy dies in hospital

Hana Mohammed Khodor

A pregnant Lebanese woman who was badly beaten and set on fire by her husband because she would not have an abortion died in hospital on Wednesday.

Hana Mohammed Khodor, 21, lost her fight for life at Al-Salam Hospital in northern Lebanon where she had been for the past 11 days.

A doctor from the hospital said on Tuesday that Khodor was admitted on Aug. 6 and had been receiving treatment for burns to her entire body.

He added that her unborn child died in the womb and had to be surgically removed, and described Khodor’s chances of survival as “very bleak.”

A family friend, Abdul Rahman Haddad, told Arab News that Khodor died on Wednesday. A hospital official confirmed the news and said her body had already been claimed by her family.

According to local media reports, Khodor’s husband, identified only by the initials A. A., beat his wife because she refused to abort their unborn child.

He was reported to have said the couple — who came from a poor background in the northern city of Tripoli — could not afford to raise it.

Speaking to Al-Jadeed TV on Tuesday, Khodor’s aunt said: “When she refused to abort the baby, he took her home and set her on fire using the gas cylinder.”

Haddad said A. A. had been arrested by Lebanese Internal Security Forces as he was planning to flee the country.

Prior to her death, Khodor’s family made several appeals for financial support to help pay for her hospital treatment, which included multiple operations and blood transfusions.