Afghanistan 'rape' law puts women's rights front and center

[Chica Yeyé 41]

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- "In Afghanistan, the sacrifice in the political game is women and children," female Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi said.

Critics say they fear that Afghanistan's new Shiite law will set the nation backward.

Koofi says that is exactly what happened when the Afghan parliament recently passed a bill intended to give the minority Shiite community their own identity. But critics say the latest draft strips Shiite women of rights as simple as leaving the house without permission from a male relative and as extreme as allowing a man to have sexual intercourse with his wife even when she says, "No."

These critics wonder how what amounts to rape in marriage could be passed by parliament and signed into law by President Hamid Karzai.

Amid blistering criticism from the West, Karzai addressed the law over the weekend, saying that key elements of the bill were misinterpreted by Western news organizations.

Complete article

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

How could that be "misinterpreted"

Either the law permits these things, or it doesn't.

Edited April 6, 2009 by Private Pike

[Chica Yeyé 41]

You don't say....

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

It seems international pressure is having an effect:

However, it is prudent to note that the law has not in anyway been defenestrated altogether. Varying interpretations of different drafts of the legislation are circulating. According to Afghan officials who support the principles behind the legislation, the draft that has drawn such excoriation has since been replaced by a more lenient version that would allow a woman to refuse marital sex under certain circumstances. From the AFP:

A copy of the draft bill, seen by AFP, said: "It is the responsibility of the wife to prepare for sexual satisfaction of her husband and not leave the house without permission, unless there is the need or difficulty."

Critics interpreted this as making it illegal for a woman to refuse her husband sex and only in an emergency leave the house without permission.

But the version signed by Karzai says a wife can refuse sex on the basis of "lawful or logical excuses or with permission of her husband," influential Shiite parliamentarian Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi said last week.

The changes, which have been seen by AFP, also allow her to leave home without permission "for any lawful purpose within the boundaries accepted by custom," said Balkhi, who has been involved in drawing up the law.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/06/a...d_n_183750.html

[Rocky_nBullwinkle 6]

Wife leaving the house without the husband's permission is too harsh. She doesn't enjoy her freedom at all. What if she wanted to go out with her BFF's or girlfriends for a get together?

[dalegg 143]

Seems to me if we can tell a company who it can and cannot have as a boss because we give them money, we can set a few ground rules for a government to play by when we overthrow their opposition.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Seems to me if we can tell a company who it can and cannot have as a boss because we give them money, we can set a few ground rules for a government to play by when we overthrow their opposition.

Our whole mantra in the War on Terror was about the need to "spread democracy". Worked well in the Palestinian territories

[eros_EX_Plumber 0]

"

A copy of the draft bill, seen by AFP, said: "It is the responsibility of the wife to prepare for sexual satisfaction of her husband and not leave the house without permission, unless there is the need or difficulty."

I have chosen the wrong county

[panamania79 2]

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- "In Afghanistan, the sacrifice in the political game is women and children," female Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi said.

Critics say they fear that Afghanistan's new Shiite law will set the nation backward.

Koofi says that is exactly what happened when the Afghan parliament recently passed a bill intended to give the minority Shiite community their own identity. But critics say the latest draft strips Shiite women of rights as simple as leaving the house without permission from a male relative and as extreme as allowing a man to have sexual intercourse with his wife even when she says, "No."

These critics wonder how what amounts to rape in marriage could be passed by parliament and signed into law by President Hamid Karzai.

Amid blistering criticism from the West, Karzai addressed the law over the weekend, saying that key elements of the bill were misinterpreted by Western news organizations.

Complete article

How the hell cna this be misinterpreted ?!? It sickens and saddens me that women are treated like this !