Law will let Afghan husbands starve wives who withhold sex
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Independent Minds
An Afghan law which legalised rape has been sent back to parliament with a clause letting husbands starve their wives if they refuse to have sex.
President Hamid Karzai ordered a review of the legislation after The Independent revealed that it negated the need for consent within marriage.
President Barack Obama described it as "abhorrent", Gordon Brown said Britain would "not tolerate" it, and other Nato countries threatened to withdraw their troops unless the legislation was drastically re-written.
The amendments were passed to the cabinet this week and signed by Mr Karzai on Wednesday, Human Rights Watch said last night.
The women's rights activist Wazhma Frough, who was involved in the review, said that conservative religious leaders had pressured the Justice Ministry to keep many of the most controversial clauses.
"There have been a few little changes, but they are not enough," she said. "For example, if the wife doesn't accept her husband's sexual requirements then he can deny her food."
According to civil society groups, the law, which regulates the personal affairs of Afghanistan's minority Shia community, still includes clauses which allow rapists to marry their victims as a way of absolving their crime and it tacitly approves child marriage. The law sparked riots in Kabul. Hundreds of Shia women took to the streets in protest. They were attacked by mobs of angry men who launched counter demonstrations outside the capital's largest Shia madrassa.
It is due to be ratified by parliament, which first passed the legislation in March with hardly any debate.
"Violence against women is already endemic," said Razia Jan, who is building a women's community centre in Afghanistan's Shia heartland, Bamiyan. "Men pay thousands of dollars for young girls and they are treated like slaves. Women here are already so vulnerable."
Critics claim that Mr Karzai signed the law to appease Shia leaders, ahead of the presidential polls on 20 August.
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Comments
We could be in Afghanistan for a hundred years and it wouldn't make a blind bit of difference. These people are determined to live by shiria laws so ideas of equality is anathema to them.
I'm all for pulling NATO troops out but we must also seal the borders of this country along with Pakistan so that they are then not free to export their barbarous fundamentalism elsewhere. If this is not possible then the least we can do is severely restrict them from coming into this country.
bottom line islam has no place in this world specifically in western world. i am amazed at some people specially western women who convert to islam,i am sure they have not read the quran fully,i am sure of that.
It is not Islam or Christianity that has no place in the modern world, it is the perverts who abuse these religions that should be eliminated. What we need is a fatwa against anyone who proposes, votes for or tries to enforce these kind of laws. If the fatwa fails, there should be a call to jihad against them.
it is islam that should be eradicated.when i say islam is an insult to human dignity , i have a reason.
All you folks are missing the point anyway, the west went to Afghanistan to bring democracy, so if the majority want this then the west must let them have it.
If such a law was passed in Saudi Arabia the west would not care, so it's not a matter of principle, it's a matter of what can we get away with, just like it is with everything in politics.
Now I'm not one of those stupid people that believes the west is in Afghanistan to bring democracy, but it is their stated claim, so I'm happy to use that stick to beat them with.
We can't say that Afghanistan is a sovereign nation and then tell them what laws they can and can't pass, it makes no sense. Plus if we were that bothered about peoples rights then we wouldn't do business with the Saudi's. It's our lack of consistency that makes everything we do so difficult. In Afghanistan and Iraq western soliders are told to destroy the Islamic fundamentalists, but in Saudi and Kuwait they told to protect these nutters, am I the only person that finds this odd.
If the war in Afghanistan is so important why is the west deploying a smaller force than U.S.S.R LOST with, that makes no sense to me at all and they wonder why it's been 7 years. God forbid the west ever get's into a real war, they would be F***ED big time.
Oh ye and what ever happened to that guy they were looking for, what's his name obama or something.
He could teach Alistair Campbell a thing or two about press releases and spin.
I can't find two people that can give the same reason why the British are in Afghanistan because nobody knows why the British are in Afghanistan. The best I can make of it is, the British will stay in Afghanistan until Afghanistan agees to do things their way and that could take an awful long time.
Oh well best of luck , you'll need it.
A fatwa from the religious elite might make things better but it doesn't liberate the people and teach them to reason for themselves does it...
why is it that islam appears to inspire more violence, oppression, inequality and intolerance than all other religions put together?
coincidence?
please do not try to tell me that it is just a few extremists - especially when i see no protests by muslims over murderous atrocities, yet they will take to the streets and even riot worldwide to protest a cartoon.
Will the men of Afghanistan ever grow up to be mature males and take their rightful place in the world or are they for ever going to stay locked in this archaic world of permanent childhood?
A scandal, because I am supposed to show "respect" for people in this country who hold similar ideas.
Well, I won't, I only hold them and the religion from which they derive their behaviour beneath contempt.
Islam is nasty violent backward religion; we do not respect you we merely fear what you will do next in the name of your god.
Like many others I do not see why so many of our children should be sent to die in this god forsaken country, if the people really want to live in a Muslim medieval wonderland who are we to stop them?
If you don't beleive me - maybe you shoul try actually speaking to and interacting with muslims in the UK. i get the impression that you and amny other people posting on this article do not.
Also consider the muslim women of China, the Uigyur women.Their exiled leader, Robena Kadeer is a woman. Earlier tis week the women of Urumqi took to the streets and rioted, demanding the return of their male relatives from Chinese officals. This really does not strike me as the kind of society were women are sidelined.
The problem with Islam is that it is 100% chauvinistic and patriarchal, adding this to a society of the same bent does indeed make things worse, but it is the nature of the beast that is the real problem.
The authorities in Algeria have fought a long battle against Islamic extremist, but to little avail, militarily they may or may not be prevailing, (depending on who you listen too), but i have often witnessed young women dressed for the summer, (it is often 35C+ here), being shouted out by men in the street. You go to the centre of Algiers at the weekend, after sun down you will be lucky to see a single women, Christians are routinely persecuted, (its illegal for a Christian to pray outside of a designated building), Ramadan is strictly enforced, all the night clubs bar two have been closed in the city, (this happened late last year), homosexuality carries a lengthy prison sentence etc, etc ..
And remember Algiers paints itself a s a "moderate" Muslim state.
So fingercuff, i believe that you are entirely mistaken, just because a few Muslims in England behave like it is the 21st century does not mean that the rest of them do.
As for, no one starves in islamic community then i do wonder why on Fridays when i visit the main shopping area in Algiers i am besieged by desperate looking women, often with very young children in tow.
I was brought up by Baptist parents, and would happily pitch my knowledge of the bible against yours any day. And yes i have read bits of the Koran, as much as i could stomach, rarely have a read a book so filled with hatred, bile and the urgings to do violence to whoever disagrees with the so called prophet. it is truly one of the nastiest books currently in print.
Yes of course it is an utterly outrageous that this young lady was killed in Germany, perhaps you would care to comment on yesterdays lead news item, just remind me how many young children did the good Muslims of Afghanistan murder? In fact as you well know the news is stuffed practically every single night day in day out with the atrocities committed by your faithful.
You know you can say what you like about Islam being a faith of peace the rest of us will judge you by your actions.
And the cretin Brown wont 'tolerate' it. And pray tell Mr Brown what you will do to stop it? Pull our soldiers out, depose their elected president? reduce our largely worthless aid?
It gets better every day.
The only result of trying to help islamic regimes is the constant accusation of "invasion".
Withdraw, disallow trade with regimes that promote such inequality and save lives and taxpayers money by allowing these countries to decide for themselves.
will the y cut the head of the queen of england, the president of france etc..
rape all the women ?
kill all the jews, gays etc... ?
yes
because it s the law of charia that all eurabian countries are going to accept !
rape all the women ?
kill all the jews, gays etc... ?
yes
because it s the law of charia that all eurabian countries are going to accept !
Very sad!