Afghan Reviews Rape Law Amid Int'l Outcry
Afghan president Hamid Karzai's spokesman said Tuesday that the controversial new law that would essentially allow husbands to rape their wife is under review following international outcry.
The measure, slipped into a recently passed bill for minority Shia Muslims, has been sent to the Ministry of Justice for review, said spokesman Humayun Hamidzada, according to The Associated Press.
According to reports, many members of parliament did not know that the measure was even in the Shia state law that was meant to give the Shia community its own identity within Sunni-majority Afghanistan.
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Some female Afghan parliament members, not knowing about the included measure, voted for the bill.
Under the measure, a man has the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife every four days, even if she says, "No." The allowed exception is when the woman is sick.
President Obama has called the law "abhorrent" and said his administration has made it clear to the Afghan government that it opposes the legislation.
"We think that it is very important for us to be sensitive to local culture but we also think that there are certain basic principles that all nations should uphold, and respect for women and respect for their freedom and integrity is an important principle," Obama said in Strasbourg, France on Saturday.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have also voiced objection to the legislation.
Other problems within the law include not allowing a woman to leave the house without permission from a male relative, which critics say has set back hard-won women's rights in Afghanistan to that under Taliban rule.
Fawzia Kufi, a parliament member who opposed the legislation, criticized it for taking away the human rights of women.
"All the efforts that were made in the last seven years to enhance women's rights will be undermined," Kufi said to AP.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who has long championed human rights since her days as First Lady, has said she hopes after the review the legislation will be overturned.
