Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2008) 'Infidel', Chapter 5, p. 75 - 77

[Ayaan would be 12 or 13 at this time]

The ma'alim was back, with another man. .....They dragged me inside and the ma'alim blindfolded me with a cloth and started to hit me with all his strength with a sharp stick, to teach me a lesson.

Because I had been washing the floor I was wearing only an undershirt and skirt; my arms and lower legs were bare, and the lashes were really painful. .....

He grabbed my braided hair and pulled my hair back, and then he shoved it against the wall. I distinctly heard a cracking noise.....

My whole body was burning and swollen from the lashes and my nose had begun to bleed.....

The next thing I knew it was Sunday morning.....

She [Ayaan's mother] pulled my hair - on the side where I was hurt -......She bit me and pinched me and caled my grandmother to help her........

At around midnight, she and Grandma finally managed to get me down. They tied me up...... My mother beat me - really beat me - and then she said, "I'm not going to untie you...........

Around three in the morning Ma came back...... and released me......

An Italian doctor ordered X-rays. My skull was fractured, and a huge amount of blood had collected between my head skina nd my skull; ...... I needed immediate operation.