More than 400 Afghan women jailed for 'moral crimes'

[News_Editor]

More than 400 Afghan women jailed for 'moral crimes'

2012-03-29 03:36:44 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- Hundreds of women are currently imprisoned in Afghanistan for so-called 'moral crimes', including running away from forced marriages and extra-marital sex charges after being raped, according to a report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Wednesday.

The 120-page report is based on 58 interviews conducted in three prisons and three juvenile detention facilities with women and girls accused of moral crimes. The human rights organization estimates that more than 400 women, nearly all girls in juvenile detention and about half of women in prisons, were arrested for moral crimes.

"It is shocking that 10 years after the overthrow of the Taliban, women and girls are still imprisoned for running away from domestic violence or forced marriage," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "No one should be locked up for fleeing a dangerous situation even if it's at home. President Karzai and Afghanistan's allies should act decisively to end this abusive and discriminatory practice."

Moral crimes usually involve flight from unlawful forced marriage or domestic violence by abusive husbands and relatives, the human rights group said. Some women and girls have been convicted of zina, sex outside of marriage, after being raped or forced into prostitution. Some of the victims were arrested after they went to police in hopes of getting help.

Women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch described abuses including forced and underage marriage, beatings, stabbings, burnings, rapes, forced prostitution, kidnapping, and murder threats. Virtually none of the cases have led even to an investigation of the abuse, let alone prosecution or punishment.

Most women accused of moral crimes are arrested solely on a complaint of a husband or relative, and prosecutors usually ignore evidence that supports their assertions of innocence. Judges often convict solely on the basis of 'confessions' given in the absence of lawyers and 'signed' without having been read to women who cannot read or write.

Police, prosecutors, and judges also ignore evidence of abuse against accused women, despite the 2009 Law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women which makes violence against women a criminal offense. "Courts send women to prison for dubious 'crimes' while the real criminals - their abusers - walk free," Roth said. "Even the most horrific abuses suffered by women seem to elicit nothing more than a shrug from prosecutors, despite laws criminalizing violence against women."

The report said that Karzai's government has failed to fulfill its obligations and called on the U.S. and other donor countries to press Karzai to end the wrongful imprisonment of women who are victims rather than criminals. "It is long past time for Afghanistan to act on its promises to overhaul laws that make Afghan women second-class citizens," Roth said. "Laws that force women to endure abuse by denying them the right to divorce are not only outdated but cruel."

Despite the fall of the Taliban more than a decade ago, violence and abuse of women continues to be a serious problem in Afghanistan. Human rights activists have repeatedly criticized Afghan authorities for their failure to protect women, and the issue was highlighted again by three recent cases.

In January, a 30-year-old woman from Kunduz province was choked to death by her husband and mother-in-law after she gave birth to the couple's third girl late last year. "She was told by her husband that if she delivered another baby girl, he would kill her," a police spokesman said at the time. The mother-in-law was arrested, but the husband was able to escape.

In December 2011, police in northern Afghanistan rescued a 15-year-old girl who had been locked up in a toilet for about half a year and was frequently beaten for refusing to have sex with men brought home by her parents-in-law. The young victim had earlier married a 30-year-old man, a common practice in a country where some girls are being married as young as nine-years-old.

Prior to that, the Afghan government received a storm of criticism when a 21-year-old woman, identified only as Gulnaz, was arrested on charges of adultery when she reported that she had been raped by her cousin's husband in 2009. She initially did not report the sexual assault but was forced to do so after showing signs of pregnancy.

Refusing to marry her alleged attacker to have the case dropped, Gulnaz was sentenced to two years in prison on the charge of having sex outside of marriage because prosecutors argued they could not determine whether they had sex voluntarily outside of marriage or if she was raped.

The initial sentence was later increased to twelve years in prison when Gulnaz appealed her conviction. Another appeal saw her sentence being reduced to three years imprisonment, but she received a pardon from President Hamid Karzai when the issue gained international attention.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-03-29

[Naam]

bravo! again a free for all islam haters thread who will be congregating here soon.

[Carib]

bravo! again a free for all islam haters thread who will be congregating here soon.

Don`t scare em off now..

[buddy]

bravo! again a free for all islam haters thread who will be congregating here soon.

And why not, what does the religion of er "peace" have to offer to humanity?

Misogyny, stone age beliefs, Sharia law, amputations, stoning to death, belief in an invisible dude in the sky?

See how happy your wife would be draped in a black bin liner and a face mask if the hard line Muslims took over Thailand and made it Thailandistan!

Open your eyes oh politicly correct one!

[Colin Yai]

bravo! again a free for all islam haters thread who will be congregating here soon.

Pulling stunts like this ,They make it so easy for us don't they, and in closing do you approve of women being treated like cattle and young kids being used as suicide bombers?? Edited March 29, 2012 by Colin Yai

[Scott]

Please stay on-topic. The OP does not discuss religion. It discusses what appears to be a breakdown of several systems of civil society, including laws, judicial review and police enforcement.

The institutions of a country may be overshadowed by religious beliefs, however, that is not the point of the OP.

Again, stay on topic and please be civil.

[Steely Dan]

Bare in mind this is what the relatively moderate Afghan government are doing, the Taliban obviously provide no stats. It does beg the question whether this sort of regime is one Nato troops should be fighting and dying for.

[Scott]

An off-topic post has been removed. Please stick to the topic of the OP; not personal agendas set forth by other posters.

[Morch]

A milder version of the above is present in rural or poverty stricken areas of India. Not limited to Muslims, though the female genital mutilation thing is. Two reoccurring themes are disposing of a new wife after the dowry is handed over and murder of young girls (seen as a potential economic burden).Marrying off a women against their wishes or as part of some "trade" exists as well, though with the fixed marriage (by parents) tradition still prevailing and adhered to, this isn't exactly a black and white issue.

Orthodox Jews do not place much value on human rights of women as well (pretty similar to the fixed marriage traditions of India), but this rarely involves physical abuse. Well, they do have mail circumcision, but that's another painful subject....

Point is that mental and physical abuse is not condoned by relevant countries and governments, certainly not incorporated into the legal system (if anything, the opposite). Agencies might be lax in enforcing laws and situation could be better - but still a far cry from what is described in the OP.

[bigbamboo]

If Islam was a male only religion I wonder how many women would object?

[transam]

If Islam was a male only religion I wonder how many women would object?

Thought it was a male only religion.

[Scott]

Off-topic posts removed as well as replies.

[chops]

Why don't they just butt out of everything? It's not their country and not their culture. Besides, the whole thing smells like it has a feminist agenda.

[TAWP]

Only immoral lawmakers creates morality-laws.

[flying]

Orthodox Jews do not place much value on human rights of women as well (pretty similar to the fixed marriage traditions of India), but this rarely involves physical abuse. Well, they do have mail circumcision, but that's another painful subject....

thanks I know it was a typo but still funny

Like insult to injury

Not only is it painful but now you have to dislocate it & pack it to mail off to a doctor.

Oh the things some guys will do for love

[OzMick]

Why don't they just butt out of everything? It's not their country and not their culture. Besides, the whole thing smells like it has a feminist agenda.

Right, bloody women should know their place and stop bitching to foreigners because they rank somewhere between the cows and the goats. If we didn't need them for breeding we could get shot of all of them, and it would be just a god-chosen boys - kiss me Abdul!

[geriatrickid]

bravo! again a free for all islam haters thread who will be congregating here soon.

Herr Naam, instead of whining don't you think your concern(s) and those of your associates in TVF that share a love and admiration of Islam should be to take this as a "teachable" moment?

Please explain the detentions why these laws and customs are practiced.

Thank you

[geriatrickid]

Bare in mind this is what the relatively moderate Afghan government are doing, the Taliban obviously provide no stats. It does beg the question whether this sort of regime is one Nato troops should be fighting and dying for.

The alternative is to just be rid of a malignancy. Would you as an alternative option be in favour of turning the country into a wasteland which would necessitate the deaths of many that were non beligerent? i.e Let North Korea use Afghanistan as a nuclear missile testing site?

[geriatrickid]

Why don't they just butt out of everything? It's not their country and not their culture. Besides, the whole thing smells like it has a feminist agenda.

Yes, darn those feminists for insisting that young girls not be forced into marriages, and that women not be raped or beaten.

Women should be quiet and get back to their chores.

[geriatrickid]

A milder version of the above is present in rural or poverty stricken areas of India. Not limited to Muslims, though the female genital mutilation thing is. Two reoccurring themes are disposing of a new wife after the dowry is handed over and murder of young girls (seen as a potential economic burden).Marrying off a women against their wishes or as part of some "trade" exists as well, though with the fixed marriage (by parents) tradition still prevailing and adhered to, this isn't exactly a black and white issue.

Orthodox Jews do not place much value on human rights of women as well (pretty similar to the fixed marriage traditions of India), but this rarely involves physical abuse. Well, they do have mail circumcision, but that's another painful subject....

Point is that mental and physical abuse is not condoned by relevant countries and governments, certainly not incorporated into the legal system (if anything, the opposite). Agencies might be lax in enforcing laws and situation could be better - but still a far cry from what is described in the OP.

Your comment on Orthodox judaism and women is not relevant. Judaism is a matriarchal religion whereas Islam is a patriarchal religion. This is reflected in how women are "valued". Let, me put it into context; You know the jokes about Jewish mother guilt? Interchangeable with Greek and Italian mother guilt, right? There are no jokes about Afghani/Islam/Arab mother guilt. It is because some religions/cultures/societies ascribe a higher importance to women. No doubt that orthodox jewish women get abused as do Italian and Greek women. The difference is such abuse is unacceptable and that there are mechanisms of redress and intrinsic obligations to render support and aid. This is a reflection of an advanced society. The religion will play a role in the society advancing or being held back in the stone age. The Afghani culture is one of violence, clan animosities, thievery and more violence. It is not a society going places as they say.

[Steely Dan]

Bare in mind this is what the relatively moderate Afghan government are doing, the Taliban obviously provide no stats. It does beg the question whether this sort of regime is one Nato troops should be fighting and dying for.

The alternative is to just be rid of a malignancy. Would you as an alternative option be in favour of turning the country into a wasteland which would necessitate the deaths of many that were non beligerent? i.e Let North Korea use Afghanistan as a nuclear missile testing site?

Well that would be quicker, seeing as it is the Taliban are responsible for over 75% of the deaths. As per the O.P though if you are dealing with a 'malignant' ideology you can't really come to an accommodation with it, you either remove it root and branch or you wait for the population to eventually liberate themselves. But the Obama administration has clearly marked out troop draw downs leading to complete departure, which is essentially the only info the Taliban need. The job is either seen through to the end or is frankly not worth undertaking.