Fakhra Younus gave a face to the thousands of Pakistani women who are disfigured as a result of acid attacks, typically carried out by husbands who accuse their wives of dishonouring them.

Younus was born to a heroin-addicted mother in Karachi's red-light district, probably in 1978. She was 18 and working as a prostitute when she met Bilal Khar, a former member of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab and son of a former Punjab governor, Ghulam Mustafa Khar.

Horrific … Fakhra Younus before the acid attack in 2000 carried out by her husband after she left him for abusing her.

The Khar family is a major political force in Pakistan. When he met Younus, unknown to her, Bilal Khar had already been married and divorced three times and was married to a fourth wife.

The two married after six months, but, by her account, from the start her husband subjected her to a sustained campaign of sexual, physical and verbal abuse that lasted three years before she eventually escaped and moved back to live with her mother. But her peace did not last long.