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Burned Woman Stands By Her Recanted Testimony, Says The Man Who Burned Her Is Innocent

A P Kamath in New York

Asserting that she was speaking out again to calm her soul and, admitting that she lied under oath, Syeda Sufian said the man who faces five to 25 years in a prison and possible deportation for burning her actually tried to save her.

Sufian has been heralded by the news media for her bravery in facing her tormentor in the court and starting life afresh after the horrendous incident more than four years ago. She is a heroine for Sakhi, the South Asian women's empowerment group, which feted her, along with public prosecutor Davanand Singh about six weeks ago in New York city.

Throughout the much publicized trial, Sakhi backed Sufian. It organized demos in front of Mohsin's home. Her courage should be emulated by other South Asian battered and psychologically harmed women, her admirers said.

But now the organization is not commenting on her U-turn.

A spokesperson for the prosecution, however, said Sufian is being victimized by the perpetrator's family and has been psychologically forced to recant her stand.

Sufian, who had described under oath a few months ago how fellow Bangladeshi immigrant Mohammad Mohsin, 31, had put gasoline on her and set her on fire, now says she was mad at him for refusing to marry her. So when she was accidentally burned, she decided -- at the behest of her relatives -- to take revenge on Mohsin.

But Mohsin had indeed tried to save her when he heard her screaming, and saw her body burning, she said. The two had lived together in a New York home for several years.

Twentyfour-year-old Sufian, whose body still carries deep scars, had told the police after the burning incident in May 1995 that she had accidentally set herself on fire.

He was found guilty of attempted murder by a Queen's jury on May 31 and was sentenced last week.

But then his lawyer submitted a tape containing the alleged recant.

Sufian told an imam recently that she had done "something terrible" and she wanted to do the right thing, so that her conscience would have some comfort. The imam secretly taped her and gave the tapes to Mohsin's attorney. This week, Sufian repeated the same confession to reporters.

During the trial, Mohsin's attorney had mentioned her first statement to the police; there were also direct allegations that Sufian set herself on fire to threaten Mohsin, when she learned that he was going in for an arranged marriage.

She swore in the court that she had lied to the police the first time because of the threats Mohsin had made soon after the murder attempt.

On the witness stand, she had resolutely recounted how Mohsin came out of the bathroom when she was washing dishes and announced: "See how I am going to kill you." He was furious at her for she had told him that she would reveal their relationship to his family.

"Suddenly he threw petrol on me," she said in Bengali, pausing long enough to let the translator announce it in English, "My whole body was burning."

Now she says she had used the liquid given by her landlord to remove paint from her body; she had been painting for several hours. She then lit the stove without realizing that she had the explosive liquid on her body.

While prosecutor Singh away on vacation, Marjory Fisher, head of the Queens District Attorney's Special Victim's Bureau, said it was not uncommon for battered women to recant their testimony.

She said Mohsin's family is involved in a campaign to discredit Sufian, brainwashing her that she has no face left in the community, and she will be ostracized and condemned by fellow immigrants.

"But the forensic and medical evidence support the fact he threw a flammable liquid on her and lit her on fire, and that is the only plausible explanation," Fisher added.

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