Karzai 'has revived Taleban's barbarism to women'

HUMAN rights campaigners have accused president Hamid Karzai of "selling out" Afghan women by ratifying a Shiite law – which critics fear will legalise rape – ahead of next week's election.

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) yesterday discovered that an amended version of the controversial Personal Status Law quietly came into effect on 27 July, when it was published in the official gazette.

The legislation is meant to govern family law for minority Muslim Shiites, who make up about 15 per cent of Afghanistan's 30 million population, and is different to rules for the majority Sunni population.

It requires Shia women to satisfy their husband's sexual appetites, an article which critics have said could be used to justify marital rape.

Mr Karzai, who approved the legislation earlier this year, was forced to review the decision after western leaders said the "abhorrent" laws harked back to Taleban-era restrictions and Afghan women's rights groups protested on the streets.

Mr Karzai has previously said western concerns about the law were "inappropriate" and may have been based on "misinterpretations" but promised last April to make changes if it was found to violate the constitution.

However, HRW says the amended law still contains some of its "most repressive" articles that directly contravene the Afghan constitution, which bans any kind of discrimination and distinction between citizens.

A copy of the final law seen by HRW enshrines a husband's right to withdraw basic maintenance from his wife, including food, if she refuses to obey his sexual demands, and requires women to get permission from their husbands to work.

It also grants guardianship of children exclusively to their fathers and grandfathers and effectively allows a rapist to avoid prosecution by paying "blood money" to a girl who was injured when he raped her.

Brad Adams, Asia director for HRW, said: "Karzai has made an unthinkable deal to sell Afghan women out in return for the support of fundamentalists in the 20 August election. So much for any credentials he claimed as a moderate on women's issues.

"These kinds of barbaric laws were supposed to have been relegated to the past with the overthrow of the Taleban in 2001, yet Karzai has revived them and given them his official stamp of approval."

Fatemeh Hosseini, an Afghan women's rights activist, said Karzai had been pressured by both sides but in the end had given in to conservative Muslim clerics.

"Karzai promised he would make changes and he has brought changes. But the changes are only in the wording, the context is the same," she said.

"Karzai is trying to please both sides but for them, the mullahs are more important than women," she said.

HRW has demanded the Afghan parliament overturns the law and has called on presidential candidates to amend or repeal it.

"Afghanistan's parliament should overturn this law, and its constitutional court should throw out provisions that violate the constitution and its international legal obligations," said Mr Adams.

Mr Karzai signed the Shia Personal Status Law in March, prompting a national and international storm of protest. The law also regulates divorce, separation, inheritance, and the minimum age for marriage.

The law was designed in secret by a powerful and hard-line Shia leader, Ayatollah Asif Mohseni, and supported by conservative Shia leaders in parliament.

In a rare move, Afghan women took to the streets in April to protest, braving threats and violence.

After many world leaders condemned the legislation, Mr Karzai submitted the law to a consultation process with civil society groups in May.