A 23-year-old Afghan woman was sleeping, when her husband woke her up, tied her and cut off both her ears.

Identified only as Zarina, the woman from Kashinda district in Afghanistan's northern province of Balkh described her husband as a suspicious man, who was preventing her from seeing her family.

Her husband is on the the run and Zarina, who was married at 13, is recovering in hospital.

Although their 10-year marriage was troubled, she never expected her husband to do such a thing.

"He is a very suspicious man and often accused me of talking to strange men when I went to visit my parents."

"I haven't committed any sin. I don't know why my husband did this," Zarina told the BBCfrom the hospital.

Her case is one of at least four similar incidents in Afghanistan in recent years.

A poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation showed that Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be born a girl.

Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai admitted that he did not sign any laws to protect women from domestic abuse during his term.

Human Rights Watch said the government failed to take steps to improve enforcement of the Elimination of Violence against Women Law (EVAW). It also said more needed to be done to stop prosecuting women who ran away to escape domestic violence and forced marriages.