Afghan women speak out on abuse from behind mask

Afghan women speak out on abuse from behind mask.Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- "I had so many dreams for my life, but when I saw him, they just disappeared." Saraya spoke softly, her hunched-over body and nervously twisting hands testimony to all she says she has had to endure."I told my father I didn't want to marry him: 'why are you doing this to me?'" She continued: "My father said 'you are of an age to be married and this is my decision, not yours.'"Saraya says it only took three days for her to realize she had been married off to a madman.Emotions and turmoil she never dared publicly speak of tumble out freely -- concealed, along with her face, behind a mask.Half the mask is pale blue, the color of the "chaudari" or burka, symbolizing the oppression of women; the other half white, representing innocence.This is Afghanistan's new revolutionary TV show called "Niqab," meaning "The Mask."Behind the concept is 28-year-old Sami Mahdi."I was always desiring to have something like the mask, like this show in our media," Mahdi said. "I was not very sure about the concept and the format, but I was very sure about the mask, you know. Because in Afghanistan, it's very difficult for women to talk about their difficulties and their problems, and the violence they are facing in their home."Her identity safely concealed behind the mask, Saraya said she was forcibly married off to a known rapist, a man with an existing criminal record when she was 15 years old. He was 58."When my youngest was just four years old, my husband brought women to the house and raped them."My child asked me: 'who are these women?' I could not say anything to my child -- my husband would just beat me."She said she eventually ran away, fearing that he would harm their daughter. She said she firmly believes that if her husband ever found her and their three children he would murder them all."During the second episode, the victim, the guest, was a lady who was 12 years old when she got married," Mahdi said, noting this was a "badal" marriage. Her brother had murdered a man. She was given to the family of the victim.As she spoke of the abuse and torture she endured, Mahdi says everyone in the control room broke down."They were crying ... they were crying," he recalled. "There are a lot of realities in Afghanistan, but when you talk about realities publicly, I am sure it will shock people. I was shocked."Hmmmm.....Welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.