''Burned Alive: A Victim of the Law of Men'' is a best-selling book, ostensibly a first-person account of an attempted
honor killing
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...
. The author,
Souad Suad (Arabic: سعاد ''su‘ad'') and the variants Souad, Soad, stems from the Arabic verb ''sa‘ada'' (سَعَدَ - 'to be happy, fortunate or lucky') which the name means "good luck, good fortune, happiness, auspicious, prosperous, favorable" ...
, is described as a
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
woman now living in Europe who survived an
attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime of attempt in various jurisdictions.
Canada
Section 239 of the ''Criminal Code'' makes attempted murder punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment. If a gun is used, the minimum sentence is four, five or seven ye ...
by her brother-in-law, who doused her with gasoline and set her on fire, at the urging of her family. The book was written as a result of
repressed memory
Repressed memory is an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is defined as a protective mechanism that excludes memory of ...
therapy.
Souad was saved by a Swiss NGO named ''Terre des Hommes'', in collaboration of the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
. She stayed in a hospital several months where she learned French, the language in which she wrote the book ''Brûlée vive''. When the book was published in 2003, she made several appearances on the French National TV.
Controversy
According to the book, she forgot about the incident for two decades until it was recovered through
repressed memory
Repressed memory is an inability to recall autobiographical information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature. The concept originated in psychoanalytic theory where repression is defined as a protective mechanism that excludes memory of ...
therapy. Thérèse Taylor, an Australian historian, has pointed out numerous medical, historical and cultural inconsistencies in the book that put its authenticity in doubt.
Souad claims to have survived the attempt without medical assistance despite having burns to 70 percent of her body – a medical impossibility (a press release by the publisher of the US edition increased that figure to an even less plausible 90 percent).
Souad also recalls her sister being choked with a telephone cord at a time when Palestinian villages did not have telephones.
References
External links
Truth, History, and Honor Killingnbsp;— A skeptical review of the book by Thérèse Taylor (Antiwar.com)
Autobiographies
Works about honor killing
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