Karzai sells out Afghan women over law-rights group

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By Jonathon Burch

KABUL (Reuters) - A leading rights group accused President Hamid Karzai on Friday of selling out Afghan women by ratifying a Shi'ite law, which has drawn wide condemnation over its harsh provisions on women, before next week's election.

Karzai, who approved the law earlier this year, was forced to review the decision after Western leaders and Afghan women's rights groups expressed dismay at provisions on women's rights some people said were reminiscent of Taliban-era restrictions.

An amended version of the Shi'ite Personal Status Law was submitted last month and published in the official gazette on July 27, bringing it into effect weeks ahead of the Aug. 20 presidential poll, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

"Karzai has made an unthinkable deal to sell Afghan women out in return for the support of fundamentalists in the August 20 election," said Brad Adams, Asia director for HRW.

"So much for any credentials he claimed as a moderate on women's issues," he said in a statement.

The legislation is meant to govern family law for minority Muslim Shi'ites, who make up about 15 percent of Afghanistan's roughly 30 million people, and is different to that for the majority Sunni population.

It requires women to satisfy their husband's sexual appetites, an article which critics have said could be used to justify marital rape and which provoked an outcry from Afghanistan's Western allies and rights groups around the world.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called the law "abhorrent".

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http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-41765120090814?sp=true

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