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Disfigured Afghan teen's father-in-law arrested

The father-in-law of a young Afghan woman who said her nose and ears were sliced off in punishment for running away from her husband has been arrested, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.
Image: Aisha
Aisha appeared on Time magazine's cover after she said her nose and ears were cut off as a punishment for running away from her husband. Her father-in-law has been arrested.Time Inc. via AP
/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

The father-in-law of a young Afghan woman who said her nose and ears were sliced off to punish her for running away from her violent husband has been arrested, the Afghan Interior Ministry said Wednesday.

The woman, Aisha, gained worldwide attention when she appeared on the Aug. 9 cover of Time magazine.

Afghan law enforcement was not able to reach into the village she fled but local police carried out the arrest when the suspect visited a bazaar, The New York Times reported.

"It would have taken 100 armored vehicles to go in there to that village," the district police chief, Mohammed Gul, said according to the Times.

The BBC identified the suspect as Haji Suleman.

Under orders from a Taliban commander acting as a judge, she was disfigured last year as punishment for fleeing her husband's home, according to Time's story in August and other accounts.

Just 18 years old at the time, Aisha said she ran away to escape her in-laws' beatings and abuse.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Aisha's father-in-law was arrested in southern Afghanistan in recent weeks. It was not immediately clear whether he had been formally charged.

Suleman was being held in jail in Uruzgan province.

Speaking to the BBC, Suleman said he was "innocent."

"Aisha's father is accusing me," he added. "He had proposed to me to kill her because she had brought shame on him after she fled her house.''

Aisha's father, who was identified only as Mohammadzai, told the BBC that he wanted his daughter returned.

"She has been kidnapped by foreigners from my house," her father sad. "I want her back."

Aisha was sent to Los Angeles over the summer for reconstructive surgery. In September, she was fitted with a temporary, prosthetic nose so she could visualize what she would look like and to help build her confidence.