He checked her clothes, forced her to eat in a separate room from the men and basically deal only with the house, husband and children, even deciding what to watch on TV . And if he tried to rebel, he insulted her and sometimes even beat her according to the accusation.
Victim was the wife of an imam , sentenced for mistreatment by the Turin prosecutor to two years and three months.
"Even if many behaviors for the Arab culture can be considered normal - the accusation had argued in the courtroom -, in this case they go beyond the limit and assume a criminal relevance".
The woman had married in Morocco, in a marriage arranged by the families of origin. Then she moved to Italy with her family but the house became a prison for her.
Shapeless clothes and a veil were a must for the woman, who could not go out alone. Contradicting her husband was impossible: the only will was that of the man, who even came for the prosecution to slap her and push her .
The imam has always denied the accusations and his lawyer, the lawyer Federico Schettini, has already announced his intention to appeal against the first degree sentence. The friends brought as witnesses defended him: no one told of having witnessed episodes of violence, physical or psychological. The only medical report, according to the defense, concerned a swollen finger, because during a dispute her husband would have closed a closet by pinching her hand.
"The mistreatment is one thing, the cultural aspects another. Even eating on the sidelines, men separated from women, cannot be considered illegal conduct", says the lawyer Schettini announcing the appeal, but the prosecution has no doubts. Also as regards the witnesses: "These are men, in particular husbands, who have shown the same cultural imprinting - claimed the prosecutor Barbara Badellino in her indictment -. Their statements are not very reliable ".
