Both leading Shiite and Sunni religious leaders have come forward to defend the infamous Afghan law that legalized spousal rape. Mohammad Asif Mohseni, a top Afghan cleric and one of the law’s main drafters, insists that the law is actually a progressive reform and proudly notes that the law was a major reform of women’s rights by allowing wives to decline soon after giving birth, fasting for Ramadan, or preparing for a pilgrimage.
Under the law, a husband can force his wife to have sex every four days and further restricts the circumstances where a women may be left alone at home.
Mohseni insists that the law cannot be changed after Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised a review. Instead, he insists that legalizing rape is merely evidence of democracy at work: “The westerners claim that they have brought democracy to Afghanistan. What does democracy mean? It means government by the people for the people. They should let the people use these democratic rights.”
The law codifies aspects of Sharia law and is seen as another example of the resurgence of the Taliban within the ranks of the government and legislature.
Mohseni further insists that he and the other legislators are wild reformers in allowing a woman to go out of the house without her husband’s consent in a medical emergency. This apparently qualifies you as the head of the National Association of Women, Kabul chapter.
Under the law, men have the right to enforce the requirement that every fourth day a man “can pass the night with his wife, unless it is harmful for either side, or either of them is suffering from any kind of sexual disease. It is essential for the woman to submit to the man’s sexual desire.”
While the law applies to the Shiite population (Iraq passes laws tailored to particular religious groups), the provision also may apply to Sunnis. Indeed, leading Sunni cleric, Maulavi Habibullah Ahsam, has come out in favor of the law and said that it does indeed apply to Sunnis.
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This is also an issue in an Alaskan controversy. Evidently there is a charge that Sarah Palin’s nominee for Attorney General, an NRA leader, once said in a speech “If we can’t rape our wives, who can we rape?”
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-04-13/palins-new-disaster
Bush is/was a moron
That in a nutshell is what is wrong with what Bush did, their idea of democracy is all about who has the most votes. I read somewhere that when Hamas actually figured it out they were all for democracy.
The westerners claim that they have brought democracy to Afghanistan. What does democracy mean? It means government by the people for the people. They should let the people use these democratic rights.”
Ah Mob rule. Makes me glad to live in a Constitutional Republic, Or at least a republic that nods at the Constitution most of the time.
“The westerners claim that they have brought democracy to Afghanistan. What does democracy mean? It means government by the people for the people. They should let the people use these democratic rights.”
You, sir, are clearly ignorant of recent US history. You don’t get a true democracy. You get a democracy that we approve of (for better or worse, usually worse).
Perhaps if the women could leave the house to vote without their husbands this might be considered a democratic action, but not this way.
Here comes the Taliban in Sheeps Clothing. This law is an outrage and should be condemned by the Obama administration again, but the Afghan cleric hit the nail on the head. When you prop up a Democracy out of the blue, the people just might want something that the “liberators” might not understand. It is their choice now, but what have we gained from the death of our best and brightest if this kind of law is allowed to exist in the 21st century? We had better get Bin Laden and the rest of his al-Qaeda friends very soon so we can leave the Afghan alone to enjoy the freedom that we won for them.